Gallery of ASU Honorary Professors Has Been Replenished with New Portraits

Eight more portraits of outstanding scientists and public figures who have made a huge contribution to the development of the image of Astrakhan State University as a high-profile higher educational institution in the Caspian region have adorned the walls of the university.

The university opened the gallery of ASU honorary professors exactly a year ago, on September 1, 2020. This project was a continuation of the initiative to eternalize the rectors of Astrakhan State University — their portraits have been meeting guests of the administrative part of the ASU main building since 2019. Artist Boris Medvedev is the author of all the paintings.

New portraits of honorary professors are located on the third floor of the main building of Astrakhan State University. The canvases depict six scientists whose names have become a kind of quality mark in teaching and scientific research for their colleagues and students. These are historian Nikolay Ushakov, philologists Elena Stompel and Lyudmila Leon, mathematicians Nikolay Ovanesov and Sergey Kazarov and educationalist Iosif Nakhimov.

Two more portraits have preserved images of public figures for the next generations. Thus, Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Russia (1995-2000) Mehdi Safari made a great contribution to strengthening good-neighborly relations between Astrakhan Region and Iran, as well as to initiating the studies of the Persian language and literature at Astrakhan State University. Anicet Gabriel Kotchofa, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Benin to the Russian Federation and the CIS countries (2012–2016), has played an important role in the development of international relations at ASU, as well as in the creation of the Astrakhan branch of the Association of International Students at ASU.