Restorer at the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences in the final of the prestigious Likhachev Prize

On May 21, 2025, a grand ceremony honoring the laureates of the Likhachev National Museum Award was held at the Maly Theatre in Moscow. Established in 2024 by order of the Russian Ministry of Culture, the prize aims to recognize museum professionals, elevate the prestige of museum careers, and draw public attention to advancements in the museum sector.

The Republic of Tatarstan took particular pride in the news that Polina Yu. Kaplan, a restorer and senior research fellow at the Institute of Archaeology named after A.Kh. Khalikov of the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences was among finalists in the 2025 “Restorer” nomination. Her entry was the 2024 project «Restoration of a faience casket with the incrustation of the VI–IV centuries BC from the collection of the Archaeological Museum of Orenburg State Pedagogical University».

Discovered in the Orenburg region, this unique artifact required working out a special restoration technique. Of particular note was the solution for reconstructing a lost fragment of the lid: it was recreated using plexiglass engraved with the lost ornament. This approach not only preserved the artifact’s historical appearance but also revealed its internal structure, making the object accessible for further study.