Khachatur Abovian was an Armenian writer and national public figure of the early 19th century, founder of modern Armenian literature and pedagogy.
He welcomed the accession of Eastern Armenia to Russian Empire. The turning point in his life was the arrival in Armenia of Friedrich Parrot in September 1829, a professor of natural philosophy from the University of Dorpat in Livonia (now University of Tartu in Estonia). Parrot had traveled to Armenia to climb Mount Ararat to conduct geological studies and required a local guide and a translator for the expedition. The Catholicos assigned Abovyan with these tasks. With Abovyan's help, Parrot became the first explorer in modern times to reach the summit of Mount Ararat. The project received full approval from the emperor Nicholas I, who provided the expedition with a military escort. Later Abovyan was persecuted by clergy.
Abovyan entered the University of Dorpat directly without additional preparation and studied in the Philosophy faculty of the Philological-Historical department from September 3, 1830 until January 18, 1836. In 1836 he returned home to start the mission of enlightenment.
Abovyan's efforts were thwarted as he faced a growing and hostile reaction from the Armenian clergy as well as Tsarist officials, largely stemming from his opposition to dogmatism and formalism in the school system.
He refused to take the title of the spiritual supervisor and was appointed as the supervisor of the Tiflis Uyezd School.
In these hard conditions he created his most famous works: "Introduction to education", "Leisure time toy", "Wounds of Armenia". In 1843 and was transferred to the Uyezd School of Yerevan as a supervisor. Living in solitude and depression on April 14, 1848 Abovyan went out of his house for an early morning walk and was never seen again.
published: 2006-01-01 00:00:00 last updated:2010-01-27 15:27:06
