photo:  Boris Vdovin

In Memory of Lyudmila Bogoslovskaya

by Boris Vdovin
former director of the Nature Ethnic Park Beringia

Lyudmila S. Bogoslovskaya, a veteran of the Dmitry Likhachev Research Center for Cultural and Natural Heritage, passed away on February 18, 2015 following an extended illness. The pain of this sad news echoed in the hearts of hundreds of people who knew her well. Bogoslovskaya will remain forever in the memory of her family, friends, colleagues and the people of her beloved Chukotka to which she devoted many years of her life.

A widely erudite person and outstanding scientist, she contributed lavishly to the understanding of cultural and natural heritage of the peoples of Russia. Lyudmila Bogoslovskaya authored and edited many books of academic and popular science. Her work, Hope: A Race along the Edge of the Land, has been published in Russian and English and won a Yuri Rytheu prize for literature. Her contribution to the study and conservation of the cultural traditions of the Native people of the North, particularly Chukotka, is priceless.

She was not a scientist who spent all her time at her desk. This seemingly fragile woman had over 40 field seasons in the Arctic and Subarctic under her belt. For many years she joined the hunters of Eastern Chukotka to study seabirds and marine mammals. Together they collected extensive and unique data on whale, seal and walrus biology.

Lyudmila Bogoslovskaya made an invaluable contribution to the study of maritime hunting culture of the Bering Strait and traditional knowledge of the Native people in this remote and severe corner of Russia.

Ideas that arose from these studies made the foundation for the development of project documentation, first for the Nature and Ethnic Park, and later the National park of Beringia. She was the scientific advisor for the development of a Feasibility Study for this protected territory.

Despite her failing health, she continued her significant contribution to the Sea Ice Knowledge and Use Project created by the International Polar Year as an author and editor of the Project Report titled Our Ice, Snow and Winds.

Bogoslovskaya was always there for her colleagues who needed her professional assistance. Many of them remember her help with gratitude.

She will remain forever in the memory of her family, friends, colleagues, and, of course, the people of Chukotka where she spent many years of her life. No words can adequately express the pain of this loss for everyone who knew her.