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| Institute of Oriental Studies (RAN) | |
|---|---|
| Name | Institute of Oriental Studies (RAN) |
| Native name | Институт востоковедения РАН |
| Established | 1818 |
| Type | Research institute |
| Parent | Russian Academy of Sciences |
| City | Moscow |
| Country | Russia |
Institute of Oriental Studies (RAN) is a major Russian research institute within the Russian Academy of Sciences devoted to the historical, linguistic, cultural and political study of Asia, North Africa and Middle East. Founded in the early 19th century, the institute has been associated with leading scholars working on topics related to Persia, China, Japan, India, Ottoman Empire, Central Asia and Caucasus. Its activities encompass philology, historiography, archaeology and area studies, and it maintains extensive archives, libraries and collections used by researchers from institutions such as State Hermitage Museum, Russian State Library, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Saint Petersburg State University and Higher School of Economics.
The institute traces origins to the Imperial Russian Orientalism initiatives of the reign of Alexander I of Russia and institutions like the Asian Museum and the Asiatic Museum in Saint Petersburg, later evolving through administrative reorganizations under the Ministry of Education (Russian Empire), the Russian Geographical Society and the Academy of Sciences (Russian Empire). In the late 19th century the institute engaged with expeditions and scholarship connected to figures such as Vladimir Dahl, Nikolai Marr, Vasily Bartold and Sergey Oldenburg, and collaborated with museums and archives related to the Great Game period involving British Empire, Qajar Iran and Emirate of Bukhara. During the Soviet era the institute was restructured under the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and hosted scholars linked to projects on Soviet–Afghan relations, Sino-Soviet relations, Indo-Soviet relations and studies of the Ottoman Empire and Arab World. In post-Soviet Russia the institute became part of the Russian Academy of Sciences and adjusted to new funding regimes while maintaining ties with institutions like the British Museum, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Princeton University, Harvard University, University of Oxford and Leiden University.
The institute operates under the auspices of the Russian Academy of Sciences and is organized into regional and thematic departments covering East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Central Asia, Near East and North Africa, as well as linguistic, archaeological and historiographical laboratories. Administrative oversight connects to agencies such as the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (Russia) and coordinating bodies including the International Council for Central and East European Studies and the European Association for South Asian Studies. Subsidiary units collaborate with university departments at Moscow State Institute of International Relations, the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Saint Petersburg), and research centers tied to the Russian Geographical Society and the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts.
Scholarly output includes monographs, critical editions, language grammars, and journals addressing issues linked to the histories of Mughal Empire, Qing dynasty, Tokugawa shogunate, Safavid dynasty, Timurid Empire, Mongol Empire and modern states like People's Republic of China, Republic of India, Japan, Islamic Republic of Iran, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Kazakhstan and Republic of Uzbekistan. The institute publishes periodicals read by specialists at Columbia University, Yale University, University of Chicago, Jawaharlal Nehru University and SOAS University of London, and contributes to edited volumes with presses such as Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press and Brill. Research projects have addressed topics including manuscript studies of works by Rumi, Ferdowsi, Ibn Khaldun and Al-Biruni, epigraphic surveys akin to those of Soviet Central Asian expeditions, and field archaeology in collaboration with teams connected to Institute of Archaeology (Russian Academy of Sciences).
While principally a research institute, it provides postgraduate supervision and doctoral programs in coordination with universities like Moscow State University and Saint Petersburg State University, offering training in Arabic language, Persian language, Turkish language, Chinese language and Sanskrit philology, as well as historiography relevant to the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878), Opium Wars, Anglo-Afghan Wars and decolonization-era studies of India. The institute organizes summer schools, seminars and advanced workshops that attract scholars from National University of Singapore, Kyoto University, Peking University, Tsinghua University and University of Tokyo, and it hosts visiting fellows and postdoctoral researchers funded by fellowships such as those from the Russian Science Foundation and international programs linked to Fulbright Program and the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions.
Collections include manuscript codices in Arabic script, Persian manuscripts, Tibetan texts, Mongolian chronicles, Chinese rare books, early Japanese woodblock prints, maps from the era of Peter the Great, archival documents from the Soviet–Afghan War, photographic archives from Central Asian expeditions, and numismatic and epigraphic materials comparable to holdings of the British Library and Vatican Library. The library holds rare printed materials and periodicals from publishers such as St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences and archive inventories traceable to collectors like Vasily Radlov and Alexander von Humboldt-era correspondences.
The institute maintains bilateral and multilateral agreements with research bodies including the Academy of Social Sciences (China), Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Indian Council of Historical Research, Turkish Historical Society, Iranian Academy of Sciences, Austrian Academy of Sciences, German Archaeological Institute, French National Centre for Scientific Research and the UNESCO frameworks for cultural heritage projects. Collaborative fieldwork and conferences involve partners such as Smithsonian Institution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, Institute of Oriental Manuscripts (Saint Petersburg), Institute for Advanced Study and regional archives in Samarkand, Bukhara, Tehran, Istanbul, Beijing and Kyoto.
Prominent figures associated with the institute or its predecessors include philologists and historians such as Vasily Bartold, Nikolai Marr, Sergey Oldenburg, Vladimir Ivanov (orientalist), Lev Gumilyov, Ignaty Krachkovsky, Vasily Radlov, Mikhail Piotrovsky, Boris Rybakov and Alexander Kazhdan; directors and leading researchers have engaged with debates involving Orientalism (Edward Said), Soviet-era policy frameworks, and contemporary area studies networks spanning Eurasianism and global academic institutions like Princeton and Oxford.