Yuri Nikolaevich
Roerich
1902-1960
Yuri Nikolaevich Roerich is an outstanding orientalist, linguist and cultural critic who has made a significant contribution to the study of Asian history and culture. He was born on August 16, 1902 in the village of Okulovka, the Novgorod governorate, he spent his childhood in St. Petersburg. From a young age, he showed interest in history, languages and military affairs. He received a brilliant education: he studied in London, Harvard and Paris, where he specialized in Indian philology, Tibetan, Mongolian and other languages. Even during his student years, he began independent scientific activity. In the 1920s and 1930s participated in the Central Asian expedition led by his father, Nikolai Roerich, he performed important functions – he was a translator, scientific consultant and was responsible for the safety of the expedition. In 1928, he became director of the Urusvati Institute of Himalayan Studies, where he was engaged in scientific and organizational work for more than ten years. His scientific works, including “Tibetan Painting”, “Along the Trails of Central Asia” and “Animal style among the nomads of Northern Tibet”, became significant events in world Oriental studies. In the 1930s and 1950s he participated in expeditions, scientific projects, and was a member of the world’s leading Oriental societies. In 1957 he returned to the USSR, became a citizen, and began working at the Institute of Oriental Studies USSR Academy of Sciences, where he headed the Department of Philosophy and History of Religion of India. In a short time, he organized the teaching of Sanskrit, revived interest in Buddhist texts, developed the basics of nomadistics and prepared for publication a large-scale Tibetan-Russian-English dictionary. With his participation, ideological restrictions on the work of the Roerich family were lifted, and the first exhibitions of Nikolai Roerich’s paintings were organized in Moscow and other cities. He also donated more than 500 of his father’s works, objects, documents and a library to the state. Thanks to the efforts of Yuri Nikolaevich the name of Roerich’s parents was restored in the USSR and the foundations of the future Roerich cultural movement were laid. A memorial plaque has been erected in his memory on the house where Yuri Roerich spent the last years of his life.
Address: Moscow, Leninsky Avenue, 62/1
