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In 1925, Nikodim Kondakov died in emigration in Prague. During his last years in Czechoslovakia, the Byzantinist had been asked to teach on nomadic art, a topic to which he had devoted only his early career. This essay aims to understand why Kondakov returned to these interests. Kondakov was indeed not the only scholar drawn to the material culture of nomadic peoples, a topic which became fundamental in Czechoslovakia, a new “nation-state” seeking its identity. This movement was further fostered by the presence of numerous Russian émigrés in Czechoslovakia, who developed the idea of “Eurasia”. These notions came to be explored by scholars from diverse backgrounds, living in Mitteleuropa, a space then shattered by the rise of totalitarianisms and WWII.