News

Friday 2 July 2021

Bagrat G. Seyranyan (1930-2021)

 
Bagrat G. Seyranyan has passed away on Friday, the 2nd of July, 2021, at the age of 91. He was the most prominent Russian historian arabist, doctor of historical sciences, professor, chief researcher of the Center of Arab and Islamic Studies of the Institute of Oriental Studies (the Russian Academy of Sciences).

Mr. Seyranyan was our colleague, our teacher, our dear friend.

The profound creative endeavors of Bagrat Seyranyan were devoted to Egypt and Yemen's recent history, the general issues of the Arab countries' socio-political history in the twentieth century, the political development mechanisms of the Arab states at the present stage. 

Many articles and monographs of Bagrat Seyranyan have been translated into Arabic. His works received well-deserved recognition abroad. Such books as "Egypt in the Struggle for Independence  (1945-1952)" (Moscow, 1970) and "The Social Structure Evolution of the Arab East Countries. Land Nobility in the 19th - the 60s of the 20th centuries. " (Moscow, 1991, 2019) have become the real classics of the oriental studies.

Mr. Seyranyan was an important figure not only in science but also in the public life of the Institute of Oriental Studies. He took an active part in the work of the Institute’s Academic Council. Being deputy chairman of the historical sciences Dissertation Council and heading the Center of Arab and Islamic Studies, he carried out enormous scientific and organizational work.

Dozens of scientists from Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Syria, and many other countries defended their candidate and doctoral theses under the leadership of Bagrat Seyranyan. Oksana Moskalets, his latter student, went through her Ph.D. thesis pre-defense just a day before her teacher’s death.

He had worked hard until the last days of his life, dreaming of completing a two-volume monograph on Egypt's recent history.

Mr. Seyranyan was respected and loved very much by his colleagues. He was the real soul of the Center of Arab and Islamic Studies. He was the personification of Russian oriental studies' best traditions, the true embodiment of a scientist, historian, and intellectual. His kindness, tenderness, and courage during the most difficult life circumstances were an example to all of us.