Cultural scientist Leonid Batkin died

In Moscow, in the 85th year of his life, a historian, culturologist, publicist Leonid Batkin died. This was reported by his colleagues and acquaintances.

Batkin is one of the world's largest specialists in the culture of the Renaissance, the researcher of the poetry of Dante and Petrarch, the art and scientific work of Leonardo da Vinci. Active member of the American Academy for the Study of Renaissance. In 1989, the Italian Council awarded Batkin for a book about Da Vinci Culture.

After graduating from the Kharkov State University in 1955, Batkin taught at the Kharkov Institute of Arts. In 1959 he defended his thesis. In 1967, Batkin was fired for "gross ideological errors", including "promoting pure art and formalism."

Since 1968 he worked at the Institute of General History of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. In Soviet times, he was not allowed to defend his doctoral dissertation. The degree of Dr. Batkin was assigned in 1992 by the totality of work on the topic "Italian revival as a historical type of culture." Since 1992, Batkin has worked as the chief researcher at the Institute of Higher Humanitarian Research of the Russian State University.

In 1979, Batkin became a member of the Samizdat literary almanac "Metropol".

Batkin, one of the oldest researchers of socio-political processes in Russia, worked a lot as a publicist. Some of his articles are published on the "faces". In 1988 - 1991, Batkin was one of the leaders of the Moscow Tribuna club. In 1990 - 1992, he participated in the activities of the Democratic Russia movement. Batkin is the compiler of the collection "Constitutional ideas of Andrei Sakharov", published in 1991.

In March 2003, Batkinmade a signature under the appeal of science figures "Stop the Chechen war together." In May 2010, he signed the appeal of the Russian opposition "Putin must leave."