The 150th Anniversary of the Outstanding Russian Artist, Thinker, and Public Figure Nikolai Konstantinovich Roerich (1874–1947).

Nicholas Roerich was a great Russian artist, writer, philosopher, scientist, traveller and public figure. He was chevalier of Russian Orders of St. Stanislav, St. Anna and St. Vladimir; Yugoslavian Order of St. Sava; French National Order of the Legion of Honour; Swedish Order of the Polar Star. Nicholas Roerich created over 7,000 works of art that are being kept in museums and private collections all over the world. His literary heritage contains about 27 books, apart from plentiful essays and articles.

Roerich was born on October 9, 1874, in St. Petersburg, in the family of Konstantin Roerich, a famous notary.

Since childhood, he has been drawn to painting, archaeology, history and, most of all, rich cultural heritage of the Orient. All that, rolled into one, produced amazing results later and made Roerich so unique and outstanding.

In 1983, after graduation from Karl May School, Nicholas Roerich entered St. Petersburg University, the Faculty of Law (graduated in 1898) and the Imperial Academy of Arts at the same time. At the Faculty of Law, Roerich studied Russian law and completed the course of lectures on international law by professor Friedrich Fromhold Martens, who was developing and officially presenting basic principles of international law at Hague Conferences 1893-1894 at the time. While studying in the university, Roerich also attended lectures at the Faculty of History and Philology. Later, it allowed him to approach to solving difficult problems of peace-keeping keeping through culture for the first time in international legal practice.

Since 1895, he studied in the studio of Arkhip Kuindji, a distinguished artist. During that period of time he kept close contacts with famous cultural figures of that age, particularly, Vladimir Stasov, Ilya Repin, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Dmitri Grigorovich, Sergey Dyaghilev.

In 1897, Nicholas Roerich was elected the member of Russian Archaeological Society.

In 1897, Roerich graduated from the Imperial Academy of Arts. His graduation work,

The Messenger, was purchased by Pavel Tretyakov, a famous Russian art collector Pavel.

In 1898, 24-year-old Roerich began as assistant secretary in the Imperial Society for Encouragement of Arts and assistant editor of  the Society art journal.

In 1899, he met Ms. Helena Shaposhnikova. In November, 1901, the couple got married. They would walk through their whole life hand in hand, complementing each other in creative and spiritual sense. In 1902, they gave birth to Jury, their son, a future Orientalist, and in 1904 –Svyatoslav, who chose to take his father’s path.

Starting from 1901, Roerich was the secretary of the Imperial Society for Encouragement of Arts.

From 1900 to 1910, Nicholas Roerich became one of the founders and the most active members of the Society for Restoration of Artistic Russia and the Society for Protection of Russian Monuments of Art and Antiquity.

In 1903–1904, Roerich travelled around ancient Russian cities, studying the origins of Russian culture and creating series of paintings dedicated to ancient Russian monuments. During the same period, he also created his religious works made as murals or mosaic designs for Russian  temples.

From 1902 and on, Roerich took active part in the exhibitions organized by the magazine “Mir Iskusstva” (World of Art).

During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, Roerich came up with the idea of the

necessity to conclude special agreement as to the protection of educational institutions and cultural monuments.

At the time, he came to know the works of Ramakrishna and Vivekananda, India’s distinguished thinkers, the poetry of Rabindranath Tagore, he also started to study the Upanishads. The Oriental philosophy reflected itself in Roerich’s works.While his early works were influenced by ancient pagan Rus, the colourful imagery of folklore, the pristine majesty of yet untouched nature (Building the City, Idols, Foreign Guests, etc.), starting with mid 1900-s, the theme of India and the Orient became more and more vivid in his paintings and literary works.

In 1906, he became the headmaster of the School of Imperial Society for Encouragement of Arts, one of the leading Russian institutions of art education at the time. During that period, he often took part in foreign exhibitions in Vienna, Berlin, Munich, Dusseldorf, Brussels, London, Paris, Rome and Venice. His paintings were bought by the world’s greatest museums. In 1909, Roerich was elected the academician of the Russian Academy of Arts and the Academy of Reims in France. In 1910, he became the Head  the “World of Art” society.

In 1914, Roerich turned to the Russian Army Supreme Command and the French and American governments with the idea of concluding international agreement to protect cultural values during wartime. However, World War I did not afford the opportunity to materialize the idea.

In 1916, Roerich was persuaded by doctors to move with his family to the Finnish town of Serdobol at the coast of Lake Ladoga, due to severe lung illness. After the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the separation of Finland from Russia, the Roerichs found themselves abroad.

In 1918–1919, having received the invitation from Sweden, Roerich travelled around Scandinavian countries (Sweden, Denmark, Norway) with personal exhibitions. In the fall of 1919, he accepted the  invitation from Sergey Dyaghilev to design the stages for Russian operas: Khobanschina by Mussorgsky, Prince Igor by Borodin, The Maid of Pskov, The Snow Maiden and Sadko by Rimsky-Korsakov for the “Russian Seasons” in London. In 1920, the exhibition of his paintings called “The Spells of Russia” opened in London.

In 1920, Roerich received the invitation from the Director of Art Institute of Chicago to organize big exhibition tour through the USA. He accepted the invitation and left London together with his family.

From 1920 through 1923, the Roerichs lived in the USA. The exhibitions, which were

also complemented by the lectures on Russian art and literature, were held in 28 cities.

In 1921 to 1923, a number of large institutions were founded upobn an initiative of Roerich, such as “Master Institute of United Arts”, which united music, choreography, architecture, theatre, literature and fine arts with scientific and philosophical departments;

“Corona Mundi” International Centre of Art (“Crown of the World”), providing cooperation between figures of science and art from various countries; “Flamma”, the Association for Advancement of Culture, American-Russian Cultural Association (ARCA), and “CorArdens” Artists’ Association (“Burning Heart”). In 1923, Nicholas Roerich’s Museum opened in NewYork, to which the author donated about 1,000 of his paintings.

In 1923, Nicholas Roerich’s dream came true: on December 2, he arrived in India with his family. The Roerichs visited the ancient monuments of Elephanta, Jaipur, Agra, Sarnath, Benares, and Calcutta. At the end of December, they stayed in a small state of Sikkim in Eastern Himalayas. The first archaeological research held inSikkim, visiting ancient monasteries, numerous meetings withs cientists and clerics drive Roerich to organize serious expedition to Central Asia.

In 1924 through1928, Roerich held the Central-Asian Scientific Expedition.Upon the return from the expedition, the Roerichs settled in the Kullu Valley in Northern India. It was there that Vedas, the ancient monument of Indian literature,had been created. Roerich saw the monument of art created thousands of years ago there, he heard ancient myths. The rich world of India opened up before him. The world that he strived for so long, the world that turned out to be so close to him and became the source of his inspiration.

In 1928, Nicholas Roerich founded the “Urusvati”  Himalayan Research Institute  in Kullu based on the unique scientific data gathered during the expedition.

At the end of the third decade of the XX century, the threat of new military conflicts among European countries arose. So, in 1929, Nicholas Roerich again put forth the idea of cultural heritage protection and created international pact project, which was later called the Roerich Pact.

In 1931, the first International conference dedicated to the Roerich Pact had been organized in Bruges.

In 1932, the second International conference dedicated to the Roerich Pact was organized, also in Bruges. At the exhibition held during the conference, 6,000 photographs were shown depicting the unique cultural monuments that needed special protection.

In 1933, the first International conference dedicated to the Roerich Pact was organized in New York.

In 1931–1933, Nicholas Roerich organized expeditions to the areas neighbouring to Kullu. In 1934–1935, he organized big scientific expedition to Manzhouli and China.

On April 15, 1935, the Treaty on Protection of Artistic and Scientific Institutions and Historic Monuments (Roerich Pact) was signed in White House in Washington by the representatives of 21 states of Pan American Union.

Since the very first days of the World War II, Roerich was doing all he could to help his motherland, even as far from it as he was. Together with Svyatoslav, his younger son , he organized exhibitions and sold paintings, sending all profits to the Red Army Foundation.

Numerous articles were written in newspapers, speeches were pronounced over the radio to support the Soviet people. Even during the war’s darkest days, he only showed confidence in the Russian people’s victory: “I’ve argued with many wanderers, doubters. False prophets foretold all kinds of troubles, but we’ve always said: “Moscow will stand!”, “Leningrad will stand!”,

“Stalingrad will stand!”. And so they did! The unbeatable Russian host has risen, for the whole world to wonder!” – wrote Roerich in 1943 in his article “Glory”.

During those dangerous days for Russia, he created a number of paintings: Prince Igor’s Campaign, Alexander Nevsky, Partisans, Victory. In them, he used the imagery from Russian history to foretell the victory of the Russian people.

Nicholas Roerich always remained patriot and Russian citizen. He always had only one passport on him, the Russian one. The thought of returning to the motherland never left him: “While I have strength, I’d like to put in to use for my homeland. Knowledge, experience, love for glorious Motherland, it all ought to be applied where it’s most useful”. At the end of the 30s, Roerich asked for the permission of the USSR’s government to return home with his family. In his appeal he wrote: “At the time of unimaginable shock, when enemies threaten the Soviet people’s peaceful construction, I suppose that all cultural powers dedicated to the new creation should urgently gather inside the Motherland for the united work of creation and defense. I and the entire family of mine family now strive to bring our knowledge and art within the Motherland’s borders”. Stalin’s resolution on the letter was as follows: “Do not respond”. Right after the war, Roerich asked for entry visa to the Soviet Union for himself and his family. However, his intentions never came true: on December 13, 1947, he passed away, never to receive the permission for entry…

At the place of his funeral pyre, before the majestic snow-capped peaks, large rectangular stone was set, with the carved inscription: “On December 15, 1947, the body of Maharishi Nicholas Roerich, great Russian friend of India, was given to the flames here. Let there be peace”.