The paper focuses on the so-called visual study of religions, i.e. scientific study of visual representation in various religions, namely study of photographs or video recordings depicting religious topics. The “memory” includes also pictures from which we can detect more information than apparent at first sight if we use highquality methodology and have sufficient knowledge. This general theory is substantiated in the paper, using several historical photographs from Atsagat Monastery, a Buddhist monastery in Buryatia, some of which have not been published yet. Several books and articles on Tibetan Buddhism in Buryatia include reproductions of a remarkable photograph which has been incorrectly identified along with wrong determination of the date of origin. The paper strives to put this information right.
There exists almost thousand-year pilgrimage of a statue of the Sandalwood Buddha in Beijing. This statue is called in Buryat as Zandan Zhuu and recent depiction of the statue is located in Buryatia since 1901 in Egita Monastery in southeastern Siberia. This article is focused on recent religious history as well as the mythologic or legendary stories in Buryatia. From the standpoint of the history of religions, the situation about the statue is more complex, and at present, it is probably not possible to determine the exact and provable origin of Zandan Zhuu (ie. whether Beijing Sandalwood Buddha is identical with Zandan Zhuu). For common believers in Buryatia however is existence of “their” statue as the Sandalwood Buddha undoubtable and it is a part of the religious history of the Buddhist Buryatia.
This contribution analyses several photographs made by Czechoslovak legionaries; these photographs capture various aspects of Buryat Buddhism in Cis-Baikalia – monks, lay people, their cult structures, temples and shrines and also interiors, altars etc. The set of about twenty photographs of this type were found in the Central Military Archive of the Czech Republic in Prague, they have not been precisely identified and have a remarkable testimonial value. They capture the state of Buryat Buddhism before the Bolshevik revolution whose effects became apparent in this region only after the departure of foreign intervention armies, including Czechoslovak legionaries. It is not an extensive and systematically created set; the photographs were discovered more or less by accident and they do not represent a targeted collection. Nevertheless their historical value is significant and they illustrate the situation around Lake Baikal very well.