Is it true that the Museum of New Chronology has opened in Russia?

At the end of 2019, news appeared in some media: followers of the pseudo-historical theory of Academician Fomenko founded a museum in Yaroslavl. We checked whether it really exists and whether it is supported by the state.

The fact that such a museum will appear in the Yaroslavl region was announced back in January 2019 told in the television program “Vesti - Yaroslavl”, produced by the local branch of VGTRK. In the story, the project was called “the only multimedia museum in Russia” and it was emphasized that the new chronology changes the idea of ​​the role of Yaroslavl in the history of the country. The creator of the concept, Anatoly Fomenko, noted in his commentary that, according to his data, Yaroslavl is actually Veliky Novgorod, one of the capitals of Ancient Rus'. Neither this nor anything similar plot on the “First Yaroslavsky” channel, the authors did not specify that the new chronology was recognized as pseudoscientific, and its supporters were criticized by the overwhelming majority of scientists.

The concept of a new chronology became known in the early 80s thanks to Anatoly Fomenko. He is really a professor at Moscow State University and an academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, but specializes on multidimensional calculus of variations, differential geometry and several other areas of mathematics. Like its main co-authors, Fomenko did not receive a history education. Significant influence on the development of theory provided works by Nikolai Morozov, a revolutionary and the author of the idea of ​​a total falsification of human history, coincidentally a native of the Yaroslavl province.

Proponents of the theory argue that our ideas about history are false and call for their radical revision. According to Fomenko and his like-minded people, the history of the ancient civilizations of the West and East is almost completely fictional, and events before the 18th century cannot be described scientifically. In the last supposedly guilty representatives of the Romanov dynasty, who, upon coming to power, began to develop a new national idea and adjust facts about the past to it. Therefore, as the new chronology claims, it is impossible to analyze chronicles and other written evidence - they are falsified. In their argumentation, Fomenko, together with co-authors and like-minded people, rely, as they themselves say, on linguistic, statistical and astronomical methods. Works of supporters of the new chronology publish until now, among them are “The Mother of God was born in Rostov the Great”, “The Incas came to America from Rus'-Horde” and “The first Kaaba was in Rus' near Kazan”. Website The new chronology is constantly updated and is available in nine languages.

The vast majority of modern scientists recognize Fomenko’s theory as pseudoscientific. The main argument of opponents is that the new chronology ignores the research of linguists, archaeologists, numismatists, anthropologists, art historians, representatives of natural sciences and other specialists. Scientists are particularly outraged by the desire of Fomenko and his co-authors to ignore all facts that do not fit into their concept and explain this by falsifications in the past. Although Fomenko often cites his own linguistic constructions in his works, the outstanding linguist Andrei Zaliznyak assessed them as “being at the level of the most primitive and ignorant amateurism.” Scientists criticized and astronomical methods and calculations of supporters of the new chronology. Professionals, representatives of different disciplines, combined their rebuke in the Antifomenko collections, the first of which was published back in 2000.

Rewriting history is an important topic in public discussions in Russia, which is monitored not only by experts and scientists, but also by the state. Since 1998 exists Commission for Combating Pseudoscience at the Russian Academy of Sciences. In 2009–2012 under the President of the Russian Federation worked Commission to counter attempts to falsify history to the detriment of the interests of Russia, and in September 2020 the head of the Investigative Committee stated about plans to open a unit to combat the rewriting of history.

Nevertheless, at the end of 2019, the Museum of New Chronology opened in a historical building in the very center of Yaroslavl. As stated on website, “the main and only exhibit of the museum is not an object of material culture, but a scientific theory” and “in the Multimedia Museum of New Chronology you can find out what the true past of humanity was like, discover previously unknown pages of history and rethink the knowledge acquired at school and university.” The project was implemented on the initiative and with the money of local entrepreneur Oleg Zharov. Government of the Yaroslavl region didn't mind against this idea, citing the fact that the museum is private. At the presentation of the project in January 2019 was present Deputy Chairman of the regional government Maxim Avdeev.

Despite the tacit support of regional officials, the camp of opponents of the new chronology received reinforcements from an unexpected side - Cossacks joined the historian scientists. In June 2020, the ataman of the Yaroslavl separate Cossack society Ilya Semyonov appealed to the regional prosecutor's office with a demand to bring the creators of the Museum of New Chronology to criminal liability for insulting the feelings of believers.

Is it true

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on topic:

1. http://www.yarmnh.ru/
2. https://www.svoboda.org/a/30278374.html
3. https://yarnovosti.com/news/pravitelstvo-yaroslavskoy-oblasti-ne-vozrajaet-protiv-muzeya-novoy-hronologii/
4. https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_chronology_(Fomenko)