golenishchev, the son of a well-to-do merchant, was educated at the saint petersburg university. in 1884–85 he organized and financed excavations in wadi hammamat, followed by the research at tell el-maskhuta in 1888–89. in the course of the following two decades he travelled to egypt more than sixty times and brought back an enormous collection of more than 6,000 ancient egyptian antiquities, including such priceless relics as the moscow mathematical papyrus, the story of wenamun, the alexandrian world chronicle, and various fayum portraits. he also published the so-called hermitage papyri, including the prophecy of neferti, now stored in the hermitage museum.