Page 9 - Именные аудитории НИУ «БелГУ»

NAME-BEARING CLASSROOM
named after Nikodim Pavlovich Kondakov
History and Philology Faculty,
BelSU Pedagogical Institute
Opened in 2012, the name-bearing status granted in 2013

Nikodim Pavlovich Kondakov (1844–1925) was the world’s fore-
most authority on Byzantine and Old Russian art and an academician
of St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences at two departments — «Histo-
ry and Philology» and «Russian Language and Literature».
The scholar was the first to describe and systematize the peculiar-
ities of Byzantine Orthodox art that had a decisive influence on the art
of Russia and Western Europe. Kondakov convincingly argued that the
true cultural centre of Christian Europe was the Second Rome (Byzan-
tium), not the First. Due to the scale of his personality, the Kondakov
School of Byzantine Studies emerged and exists to this day.
Nikodim Pavlovich was born in the village of Khalan, Novooskolsk
district in 1844 (now Russkaya Khalan, Chernyansk district, Belgorod
region). In memory of this famous countryman, the Kondakov Read-
ings are held at Belgorod State University, and the classroom in his
honour has launched a new tradition of opening name-bearing class-
rooms at the university.

Icons came to Russia in the 10th century from Byzantium along with
Christianity. Byzantine icons were not only objects of worship, but
also served as models for Russian iconographers. [...] Nowhere and
never has an icon played such a major role as in Russia. Throughout
life, icons were present in the home of a Russian man. [...] With
a prayer before an icon began every morning, every business,
they were taken in long journeys, in military campaigns. One
was born beside an icon, and one died with it. The icon has
always remained a living artistic item reflecting the changes
in the life of people throughout the history of the Russian state.
(From the book «The Russian Icon»)

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