Nikita Savelyev

The article tells the story of the artifact known in Golden Horde archaeology as “the crown of Janibek”, which became widely known after 1836 when it was brought to Germany. The event provoked the first large-scale archaeological excavations at Tsarev site. The author uses the data from Russian and foreign sources to analyze the circumstances of the crown’s discovery and trace its journey from Tsarev site in the Lower Volga region to Jena. The author analyzes the Russian and German historiography of the artifact, cites its analogies and reconstructs its hypothetical original appearance. Even though the crown is at present considered to be lost, the drawings and photographs allow publishing the artifact.