Oldenburg S.F., (1863-1934), orientalist

Categories / Science. Education/Personalia
Oldenburg Sergey Fedorovich (1863-1934, Leningrad), orientalist and scientific organiser, public figure, member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (from 1900). He moved to St. Petersburg in 1881. Graduated from the faculty of Oriental languages of the University of St. Petersburg in 1885, and assumed a teaching position there in 1889, to be promoted to professor in 1897. From 1904 to 1929 he held the post of permanent secretary of the Academy of Sciences. In 1916-30, he headed the Museum of Asia and then transferred to the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences (1930-34). He was an eminent figure in the Constitutional Democratic Party, admitted to its Central Committee in May 1917. A deputy of the Fourth State Duma, a member of the State Assembly (1912-17) and a councillor of St. Petersburg City Duma. From July through to August 1917, he performed the functions of Minister of Public Education for the Provisional Government. Later he joined the Provisional Council of the Russian Republic. In 1918, he retired from the political life. Oldenburg, being an actual head of the Academy of Sciences in the 1920s, attempted to work alongside the new regime. He was remembered as an outstanding specialist in Indian studies. His major works are dedicated to the folklore, ethnography and art of Near and Far Eastern nations, Buddhism and the history of Oriental studies. From 1897 to 1934 he edited the international series Bibliotheca Buddhica. In the 1910s-20s Oldenburg lived at 5 Universitetskaya Embankment, and moved to the House of Academicians (1/2 Lieutenant Shmidt Embankment; memorial plaque) in the 1930s. He was buried at Literatorskie Mostki.

References: Сергей Федорович Ольденбург. М., 1986; Серебряков И. Д. Непременный секретарь АН академик Сергей Федорович Ольденбург // Новая и новейшая история. 1994. № 1. С. 217-238.

A. A. Kononov. Oldenburg Sergey Fedorovich
Leitenanta Schmidta Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 1/2
Universitetskaya Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 5
Сергей Федорович Ольденбург. М., 1986
Серебряков И.Д. Непременный секретарь АН академик Сергей Федорович Ольденбург // Новая и новейшая история, 1994 Russian Academy of Sciences
State University, St. Petersburg
Institute of Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg Branch
Provisional Government of 1917
Academy House
Literatorskie (Literary) Mostki, the museum-necropolis