Boris Borisovich Piotrovsky, also Piotrovskii (; – October 15, 1990) was a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Russian academician,

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

- orientalist and

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

who studied the ancient civilizations of

Urartu Urartu was an Iron Age kingdom centered around the Armenian highlands between Lake Van, Lake Urmia, and Lake Sevan. The territory of the ancient kingdom of Urartu extended over the modern frontiers of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Armenia.Kleiss, Wo ...

Scythia Scythia (, ) or Scythica (, ) was a geographic region defined in the ancient Graeco-Roman world that encompassed the Pontic steppe. It was inhabited by Scythians, an ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic people. Etymology The names ...

, and

Nubia Nubia (, Nobiin language, Nobiin: , ) is a region along the Nile river encompassing the area between the confluence of the Blue Nile, Blue and White Nile, White Niles (in Khartoum in central Sudan), and the Cataracts of the Nile, first cataract ...

. He is best known as a key figure in the study of the Urartian civilization of the southern Caucasus.Wire report from the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

.
Boris B. Piotrovsky, Archeologist; Director of the Hermitage Was 82
" ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. October 17, 1990. Retrieved July 21, 2008. From 1964 until his death, Piotrovsky was also Director of the

Hermitage Museum The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and holds the large ...

in Leningrad (now

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

Biography

Piotrovsky was born in

in 1908. He specialized in the history and archaeology of the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

region and beginning in the 1930s, he began to acquaint himself with Urartian civilization. He was the head of 1939 excavations that uncovered the Urartian fortress of Teishebaini in

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

(known in Armenian as ''Karmir Blur'', or Red Hill). Evidence found there has been key in understanding the Urartian civilization. Piotrovsky lead further excavations in Armenia in the ancient settlements of Tsovinar, Redkig-lager, Kirovakan (now Vanadzor) and Aygevan until 1971. Areshyan, Gregory. ''«Պիոտրովսկի»'' (Piotrovsky). Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia. vol. ix. Yerevan, Armenian SSR:

Armenian Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia (NAS RA) (, ''Hayastani Hanrapetut’yan gitut’yunneri azgayin akademia'') is the Armenian national academy, functioning as the primary body that conducts research and coordinates acti ...

, 1983, p. 302. These were not Piotrovsky's sole contributions in the archaeological field, however. Piotrovsky worked elsewhere in the Caucasus, especially on the

Scythian The Scythians ( or ) or Scyths (, but note Scytho- () in composition) and sometimes also referred to as the Pontic Scythians, were an ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic people who had migrated during the 9th to 8th centuries BC fr ...

culture. In 1961, he was placed at the head of an expedition of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union to study Nubian monuments in Egypt. He also spent 26 years as Director of the

, which has been run by his son Mikhail thereafter. He was also the supervisor of the renowned Armenian archaeologist Gregory Areshian. The Hermitage holds an annual conference in his honor. He died of a

cerebral hemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as hemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain (i.e. the parenchyma), into its ventricles, or into both. An ICH is a type of bleeding within the skull and one kind of stro ...

in Leningrad in 1990 at the age of 82. He was married to Hripsime Djanpoladjian, who was an archaeologist and epigrapher.

Works

In his lifetime, he published more than 200 works in the fields of archaeology, history and art. One of Piotrovsky's most important works is ''The History of Urartu and its Culture'', published in 1944 and which went on to receive the Stalin Prize in 1946. Other notable works include: *''Urartu: The Kingdom of Van and Its Art'' (1967) *''The Ancient Civilization of Urartu'' (1969) *''The Hermitage: Its History and Collections'' (1982)

Honours and awards

Hero of Socialist Labour The Hero of Socialist Labour () was an Title of honor, honorific title in the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries from 1938 to 1991. It represented the highest degree of distinction in the USSR and was awarded for exceptional achievem ...

(1983) * Three Orders of Lenin *

Order of the October Revolution The Order of the October Revolution (, ''Orden Oktyabr'skoy Revolyutsii'') was instituted on 31 October 1967, in time for the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution. It was conferred upon individuals or groups for services furthering communis ...

* Three Orders of the Red Banner of Labour * Medal "For the Defence of Leningrad" * Medal "For Valiant Labour in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" * Medal "In Commemoration of the 250th Anniversary of Leningrad" * Jubilee Medal "Twenty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" * Jubilee Medal "Thirty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" * Jubilee Medal "Forty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" * Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France)

References

External links

The Art and Culture of the Peoples of the Caucasus: 1100 B.C.–19th century
(From the Hermitage website. One of the sections explains the importance of Teishbaini.)

for the conference in Piotrovsky's honor. Gives some biographical information. {{DEFAULTSORT:Piotrovsky, Boris 1908 births 1990 deaths 20th-century Russian archaeologists 20th-century Russian historians Archaeologists from Saint Petersburg Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Corresponding fellows of the British Academy Corresponding members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres Directors of the Hermitage Museum Full Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences Members of the Academy of the Kingdom of Morocco Saint Petersburg State University alumni Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Heroes of Socialist Labour Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the October Revolution Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class) Recipients of the Stalin Prize Armenian studies scholars Museologists Russian orientalists Soviet archaeologists Soviet historians Soviet orientalists Burials at Smolensky Cemetery