On May 2, a postcard with a commemorative stamp dedicated to the 150th Birth Anniversary of Gombojab Tsybikov, a traveler, ethnographer and orientalist, was put into postal circulation in the Geographical Projects of Russia series

Gombojab Tsybikov (1873–1930) was a Russian traveler, ethnographer, orientalist specialized in Buddhist studies, a statesman, translator, and a professor.
He became famous as the first known photographer of Lhasa and Central Tibet and the author of the travelogue to Tibet (1899-1902).

Gombojab Tsybikov was born on May 2 (April 20), 1873, in the Trans-Baikal Region in a Buddhist family. He studied at the Aginskoe parishional school. Then he entered the Chita Gymnasium and was awarded a scholarship named after A. Korff. On graduation from the Gymnasium, he continued his education at the Imperial Tomsk University and entered the Medical Faculty. Then he left for Urga, where he studied Chinese, Mongolian and Manchurian languages at a school for Buryats in order to enter the St. Petersburg University. In 1897, Tsybikov took part in the work of the Kulomzin Commission for the study of land use and land tenure in the Trans-Baikal Region. In 1899-1902, Tsybikov traveled to Tibet with a group of pilgrims, with carefully hidden research equipment. He spent most of his time in Lhasa, the capital of the country, and the surrounding monasteries, where he took a number of unique photographs (about 200 in total) and was granted an audience with the 13th Dalai Lama. It was forbidden for foreigners to enter Tibet; violation of the ban could be punished by death. Tsybikov was making his photographic work and diary keeping in secret, under the threat of being disclosed. After his journey was over, he devoted himself to teaching and to the project of translating the Lamrim fundamental work by Tibetan scholar Je Tsongkhapa. In 1906-1917, he headed the Mongolian literature department at the St. Petersburg University.

In addition to a number of reading books, the scientist published the Manual for the Study of the Tibetan Language, where he collected materials on colloquial Tibetan language. In the 1920s, Tsybikov participated in the development of a system of pedagogical and orientalist education in Siberia; he was one of the founders of the Buruchkom (Buryat Scientific Committee), a Professor at the Irkutsk State University and the author of several textbooks of the Buryat language.

The commemorative stamp provides symbolic images of geographical projects; the main illustration features a portrait of Gombojab Tsybikov with his photograph of the Potala Palace in Lhasa in the background, as well as the RGS logo.

In addition to the issue of the postcard with a commemorative stamp, JSC Marka produced special cancels for Moscow, St. Petersburg and Chita.


Design Artist: I. Ulyanovsky.
Quantity: 6.5 thousand cards.

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