Nikol Aghbalian

Nikol Aghbalian
Nikol Aghbalyan portrait
Born	1875 Tiflis,
Died	1947 (aged 71–72) Beirut,
Nationality	Armenian
Alma mater	Moscow State University Lausanne Sorbonne
Occupation	public figure and historian of literature
Known for	editor of Horizon paper.

Nikol Poghosi Aghbalian (Armenian: Նիկոլ Պողոսի Աղբալյան; 1875, Tiflis - 1947, Beirut) was an Armenian public figure and historian of literature, the editor of Horizon paper.

Aghbalian was born in 1873 in Tbilisi. His primary education was in Tbilisi's Nersisyan school, followed by a seminary education. He studied at Moscow State University, then in Lausanne and Sorbonne, worked as a teacher in Agulis, Shusha and Tiflis, and headed the Armenian National college in Iran. In 1914 he returned to Russian Armenia and participated in the National Bureau, working with the survivors of Armenian Genocide. In 1918-1920 he was a member of Parliament, and in 1919-1920 was appointed Minister of Education and Culture of the First Republic of Armenia.

Agbalian worked at the "Hammer", "Horizon", "Balcony", "Journal Amsorya" and other periodicals. After the establishment of Soviet power in 1921, Aghbalian was imprisoned and subsequently emigrated to Lebanon, where he directed the Nshan Palanjian seminarium in Beirut.

Aghbalyan died in 1947 in Beirut. Since 1991 there has been a "Nikol Abghalyan" student union. Aghbalyan secondary school No. 19 is named after him.

Works

"Banaseri Memorandum" (1937-38) "Grakam critical Works" (1959)

• History of Armenian Literature, Beirut, 1947
• With Sayat-Nova, 1966.

Sources

• The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times, by Richard G. Hovannisian, 1997, p. 329
• Lazian K., Demker hai azadakragan sharjoumen, Cairo, 1949, pp. 265–284.
• Concise Armenian Encyclopedia, Ed. by acad. K. Khudaverdyan, Yerevan, 1990, Vol. 1, p. 130.