Nigol Aghpalian 1875-1947

Nigol Aghpalian 1875-1947

Nigol Aghpalian was born in Tbilisi, in 1875. He received his education at the Nersisian School of Tbilisi, and at the Gevorgian Seminary in Echmiatsin. From a very young age he started teaching, as well as contributing critical literary articles to the “Mourj Monthly” published in Tbilisi. He also took several classes in universities in Moscow, Paris, and Lausanne. In 1909-1912 he was the principal of the Armenian national school in Teheran. As a party activist, he participated in general assemblies, and was a member of the National Council and the organizing committee of the volunteer corps. Later on, he was a member of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia and the Minister of Public Education. It is due to his efforts that the University of Armenia was established on January 31, 1920 in Alexandrapole, Gyumri. In 1923, he was invited to Alexandria, where he serves as the principal of the Armenian national school until 1928. In that year, he became one of the founders of the Armenian Educational and Publishing Hamazkayin (Pan Armenian) Association, and soon after, together with Levon Shant, was one of the founders of the Djemaran of Hamazkayin in Beirut. Until his death Nigol Aghpalian was Levon Shant’s close collaborator . He taught Armenian literature, Armenian history, and archaic Armenian, at the same time contributing to the Armenian press with his philological and critical literary articles.