Crimean Regional Branch of IPPO: 125th Anniversary of the Taurida Department and the First Decade of Its Reestablishment

The article analyzes the activities of the recreated Crimean Regional Branch of the international public organization "Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society" (hereinafter - MOO IPPO, or IPPO) over a ten-year period in comparison with the activities of the pre-revolutionary Tauride Department of IPPO. The subject area of the research includes the study of all areas of activity, both modern and pre-revolutionary representation in Crimea and the nearby Northern Black Sea region. The research is based on a wide and diverse source base, consisting of a corpus of modern sources generated by the regional branch, and pre-revolutionary documents - statistical reports (IPPO Reports), periodicals, and foundational documents. The literature, on the contrary, has a small nomenclature due to the narrowness of the particular dimension of the study and is represented by a small group of researchers in national historiography. Using a comparative method and a diachronic approach, the author draws parallels in the formation of the pre-revolutionary Tauride Department and the Crimean Regional Branch, as well as analyzes the activities of the representations in modern and pre-revolutionary Crimea based on the main areas of operation: educational, pilgrimage, historical and cultural. The author of the article makes the first attempt in modern historiography to summarize the ten-year experience of the recreated Crimean Regional Branch, which undoubtedly gives it absolute novelty, complemented by compositional originality, consisting of the first comparison of representations in a diachronic context. This work may be useful for all those interested in the history of IPPO, its regional branches, Crimean studies, the history of pilgrimage, and the Holy Land. In the course of the conducted research, the author confirms the hypothesis that the modern Crimean Regional Branch is a direct continuation of the traditions and legal successor of the pre-revolutionary Tauride Department. The objective set and the tasks solved allowed finding similarities in the main areas of activity of the two representations of the Society that existed in different epochs. The comparative analysis concludes that the Crimean Regional Branch at the present stage has a stronger scientific component, with its popularization activities aimed at studying the pages of domestic history, while the pre-revolutionary Tauride Department was more knowledgeable in matters of pilgrimage activities.