On July 1, President Putin signed a decree perpetuating the memory of Yuri Knorozov and celebrating the 100th anniversary of his birth.
In 2007, during his visit to Guatemala, Vladimir Putin emphasized that “Russia has always treated the culture of the peoples of Latin America with special attention and interest. <...> One of our compatriots, Mr. Knorozov, my fellow townsman, a resident of the city of St. Petersburg, deciphered the Mayan script, having devoted his whole life to this work. I think that this is a very serious and significant contribution to the development of primarily cultural relations between our countries.”
For many years, the memory of Yury Valentinovich has been preserved at RSUH. In 1999, the Knorozov Center was created. It is the only academic and educational center in Russia and one of the few in Europe focused on the study and teaching of the history and culture of pre-Columbian civilizations and traditional American societies. The Center is headed by Doctor Galina Ershova, a student of Yuri Knorozov.
In 2019 RSUH has established the Knorozov Scholarship awarded to students for achievements in the field of history, archeology, international relations, linguistics, philology, art history, anthropology and religious studies.
In the same year, the Knorozov Multimedia Center was open, whose main task is to organize and implement the work to popularize the achievements of the domestic humanities.
Dr. Galina Ershova, Director of the Knorozov Center, Head of the Program "Center for Interdisciplinary Humanitarian Research" noted that Dr. Knorozov had been a great scholar as his brilliant discovery concerned not only the Russian, but also the world culture.
“The name of every Russian scholar is our common historical memory, part of the common consciousness of our people. And the government has more leverage to spread that memory. So, we are grateful to Mr. Sergei Mironov for the memorial ensemble at the grave of Dr. Knorozov in St. Petersburg,” said Galina Gavrilovna.
Dr. Daria Pyatygina, Director of the Multimedia Knorozov Center, emphasized that the Decree of the President had been a sign of special attention. She also noted the role of RSUH in the development of humanities in Russia.
“Our Center, as part of the celebration of the anniversary, has prepared a series of events, such as international conferences, exhibitions dedicated to the life, work and great discovery of Dr. Knorozov.<...> We are closely cooperating with our colleagues from the Faculty of History, with whom we are already discussing the organization of a curatorial week for freshmen, so that at the excursions around the Center we will be acquainting them not only with the history of buildings on Nikolskaya, but also with the achievements of Dr. Knorozov,” said Daria Andreevna.
The main part of the events is scheduled for November and timed to coincide with the birthday of Yuri Valentinovich. So, in November, the annual conference "The Knorozov Readings" and an exhibition of photographs will be held. This summer, RSUH is hosting public lectures by specialists from the Knorozov Center.
Dr. Dmitry Belyaev, Associate Professor of the Knorozov Center, spoke about the decipherment of the Mayan writing; and on July 12 there will be a lecture by Dr. Ksenia Yamasheva, an expert from the Knorozov Center. about the gods and myths of ancient Mesoamerica.
In addition, the Knorozov Center will hold a number of events jointly with the Knorozov Multimedia Center and with the Fursenko Center for American Studies and St. Petersburg Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
● Announcements of the Knorozov Center
The composition of the steering committee for perpetuating the memory of Dr. Knorozov will be established in the near future.
