Celebration of the Centenary of the International Union of Academies in Paris: Askold Ivantchik, Vice‑President of the Union—one of the organizers of the event

From 22 to 29 November, Paris hosted the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the International Union of Academies (Union académique international, UAI–IUA)—the most prestigious international organization in the humanities and social sciences. The head of the Centre of Classical and Oriental Archaeology, IOCS HSE, Askold Ivantchik, elected two years ago Vice‑President of the International Union of Academies, took an active part in its preparation and holding.

Askold Ivantchik in the yard of the Institut de France.

The UAI was established in 1919 in Paris and currently unites the academies of 63 countries, as well as several international academies. The Russian Academy represented by Academician Mikhail Rostovtseff was one of the founders of the UAI, but later the USSR did not recognize its membership and it was restored only in 1999.

The UAI supports 92 projects that require combining the efforts of academies of several countries, including such famous projects as Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, Tabula Imperii Romani, Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, Encyclopaedia Iranica, etc. Information about the UAI and its projects is available on the Union’s website.

In the framework of the celebration, eight scientific conferences were organized, as well as an exhibition in the Louvre dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the first project of the UAI—Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum: “1919. La science et l’art pour la paix des peuples: la création du Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum”. Askold Ivantchik made an introduction to the conference “Société humaines et changements climatiques: une longue histoire” (organized by the project of the UAI L’Homme face aux changements climatiques dans la préhistoire et la protohistoire: adaptation et développement durable). Among other conferences are: “Louis Grodeci et le vitrail” and “Le Corpus Vitrearum: méthode, usages, perspectives” (project Corpus Vitrearum), “Sources for African History. Some reflections” (project Fontes Historiae Africanae), “Le Dictionnaire du Latin médiéval: réflexions méthodologiques à propos du tournant numerique” (project Le Dictionnaire du Latin médiéval), “La céramique milésienne et apparentée à l'époque archaïque” (project Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum), “Les actes pontificaux: un trésor à exploiter” (project Epistolae Pontificum Romanorum), “Knowledge of the Past for the Future of Collections” (project Corpus Antiquitatum Americanensium).

After the General Assembly of the UAI, a solemn scientific session was organized with guest talks of leading specialists in various humanities; archaeology was represented by the talk by the Vice‑President of the Russian Academy of Sciences Nikolaï Makarov “Archaeology in the Time of the New Challenges: Perspectives and Risk”. Two prizes for young scientists established by the UAI were then awarded.

The celebration ended with the annual solemn session of the Académie des inscriptions et Belles‑Lettres in the main hall of the Institut de France “under the dome”, sous la coupole, which this time was dedicated to the centenary of the UAI.

A report on the session sous la coupole

 Programme of the Celebration

Centre of Classical and Oriental Archaeology