MESSAGE FROM THE ANCIENT SEAS

There is a person in Azerbaijan who has dedicated all his life to one project. In childhood, it was somewhat haphazard, but then collecting and researching mollusc shells, and discovering new ones, became the focus of his life. Tofiq Qarayev is an unusual person. It is one thing to have a hobby to please yourself, but altogether different when you want to share it with others and thus enrich your country's history, culture and science. For this reason, Qarayev decided in 1989 to open a scientific-cognitive museum of world malacofauna, the 'Rinay' museum, which has since been included in the international registry; it is officially the first private museum in Azerbaijan and the only museum of its kind in Eurasia. No, it is not that he is trying to become famous. It is not easy to place more than 2,000 exhibits within an area of 50-60 square metres and to supplement and service a unique collection. It is simply the result of his tireless energy and great desire to preserve this wealth for future generations and to represent his country in the international arena. The Azerbaijani malacofauna museum is unique. This has been acknowledged by the International Council of Museums, the Azerbaijani national committee of which recently awarded Tofiq Qarayev an honorary certificate for his contribution to the cause of preserving and promoting the natural wealth of the world and of Azerbaijan.

"I am buying this…"

"If I did not love my homeland so much, I would probably have sold this collection a long time ago. It is very hard work, there is not enough room and there is no-one to help," Tofiq Qarayev admitted. "To be honest, there are many people who want to buy it. They are mainly foreigners. What is more, I have discovered that even Armenians have wanted to buy my collection through third parties - citizens of other countries - because my collection has shells found on the territory of Azerbaijan which date from one to three million years ago. Imagine what sort of find it would be for Armenians, who are noted for their ability to play with historical facts with the help of so-called 'material evidence'," the scientist said.

Indeed, having such a wealth of material, Azerbaijan should use it and the relevant authorities must help the scientist preserve this wealth. Although the museum is quite far from Baku city centre and does not actually look like a museum, there are quite a few visitors. They are mainly foreigners who might come as a group of 20-30 people, having learnt about it from a special directory of the world's private museums, geology students who want to work with "nature", schoolchildren, palaeontologists, representatives of oil companies, ecologists and well-known collectors. Local museum employees also visit. There is no commercial interest here - entry is free.

Meanwhile, the museum really does have a unique collection of mollusc shells from 86 families, with numerous species. As for the shells which inhabited various palaeo-seas, some of them were exchanged for exhibits from university palaentology museums in Austria, Canada, Argentina, Spain, Germany, Turkey and so on. It is interesting that Tofiq Qarayev has his own "deal" with foreign collectors - they bring him shells and conches and he gives them Caspian ones. Thus, the collection is being updated all the time.

Qarayev is not an ordinary amateur collector, he is a professional specialist in this subject and has a master's degree in geology and mineralogy; he holds an honorary certificate as professor of natural sciences and has devoted more than 40 years of his life to science. He is the first geologist to have developed a detailed, geological-magnetic-biostratigraphic scheme of the partition of Azerbaijan's Upper Cenozoic deposits. He has other hobbies as well. As a student, he was the soloist and leader of a pop band and won first prizes at republican youth festivals. In 1976, he became a champion and gold medallist at the all-Soviet academic athletics championship. Moreover, from 1996 to date, the republic's athletics arena has held traditional annual tournaments in the youth multiathlon for the Tofiq Qarayev trophy, named after the former Soviet champion and international referee. He is now first vice-president of the Azerbaijani Federation of Athletics.

However, Qarayev says that his main hobby is collecting mollusc shells and says seriously that he "may not eat or drink, but will come to the museum and work with the collection."

"Law" and "achievement"

Qarayev's collection, which also includes his discoveries, has been exhibited at various international festivals. In 1984, Qarayev was awarded a medal at the Soviet exhibition of economic achievement (VDNKh). He has participated in six major international symposia where he was the only collector to represent the Caucasus region. Now he is an active member of the International Association of Private Museums. One of Qarayev's discoveries is called "Rinay", like his museum. "I discovered a new species of clams and named them Riadica and Nailini - derivatives from the words "law" and "achievement". My son and daughter are also named after this discovery - Riad and Naila; hence the name of the museum - Rinay.

As a geologist and oil man, Qarayev has repeatedly participated in expeditions which helped him collect a lot of factual material on the palaentology of many regions of Azerbaijan. Shells from Azerbaijan are comparable with shells from Western European regions, Turkey, Ukraine and so on. Mollusc shells from Akcaqil (the Akcaqil Sea), which are three million years old, are of great importance. There are almost no similar exhibits in the world and they were found in Naftalan. In essence, what the Armenians dream of is to possess the shells from Akcaqil, the scientist said.

The shells are in excellent condition, as Qarayev has developed a new method of selecting molluscs from rocks that have a different ecological composition. This method is successfully used not only by palaeontologists, but also by archaeologists.

Talking about Tofiq Qarayev's unique collection, we cannot neglect the contribution of his father - Sadiq Qarayev - who was the real founder of the collection. From the middle of the 1930s, Sadiq Qarayev was the permanent Soviet representative for oil in the United States. When he came from America and England, he had suitcases "full" of shells.

"I have even kept one of those antique cases. In the difficult war years, I did not have a chance to supplement our collection. In those years of starvation, I even exchanged shells for bread. I was very young and did not know anything about the value of those mollusc shells. But afterwards, I followed in my father's footsteps and started revising and systematizing the collection," the scientist says.

Malacofauna are molluscs, the first living creatures to inhabit the sea and they were part of the planet's biosphere. Science knows hundreds of different species of malacofauna which have been named on the basis of their morphology in Latin translation. Some scientists named new species after great scientists and thinkers - Plato, Edison, Mendeleyev, Einstein, Lomonosov, etc. Other species were named after outstanding politicians and statesmen - Washington, Wilhelm, De Gaulle. Following this example, Tofiq Qarayev also immortalized the name of the outstanding Azerbaijani politician and statesman Heydar Aliyev in geology, palaeontology and palaeogeography and natural science by discovering and describing a new species of malacofauna from the Potomida family, which he named Geydari.

Thus, it is clear that Rinay occupies a worthy place among the state-owned and private museums of Azerbaijan. We can confidently say that Rinay has paved the way for the establishment of private museums in Azerbaijan, as there are quite a few private museums in the country already.