International conference dedicated to the renowned Ukrainian orientalist, historian, writer, essayist and translator Agathangel Krymsky was held in Lebanon on November 18, 2011.

The event timed to the 140th birth anniversary of the scholar and 115th anniversary since he arrived in Lebanon, was organized by the Embassy of Ukraine in Lebanon in conjunction with the American University of Science and Technology of Beirut, and Krymsky Institute of Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.

Key-note reports at the conference were delivered by the leading Ukrainian scholars, professors Yuriy Kochubey and Valeriy Rybalkyn.

The participants noted that Agathangel Krymsky was among those who pioneered cultural and humanitarian ties between the Ukrainians and Lebanese. During his stay in Lebanon in 1896-1898 he collaborated with Arabic almanacs, collected many documents and printed materials. He made very interesting research of linguistic conformities in the Arabic and Ukrainian languages.

In the context of bilateral cultural ties, highlighted was also the important role of the renowned Lebanese writer Mikhail Na’ima, who studied at the Theological Seminary in Poltava in 1905-1911 and translated into Arabic the poem “Zapovit” Testament of the great Ukrainian national poet Taras Shevchenko. Attending the conference was Nadim Na’ima - Mikhail Na’ima’s nephew, who participated in the unveiling of the monument to his relative three weeks ago in Poltava. While staying in Lebanon, the Ukrainian scholars visited the house where Mikhail Na’ima lived, and his burial site.

The conference which was reported in the local media, contributed to the enhancing of relations between Ukraine and Lebanon.