Turning the pages back... April 24, 1867 (04/19/98)

Turning the pages back...

April 24, 1867

Oleksander Kolessa, a lesser known member of the Kolessa family and not involved in music, was an influential force in his own right. Brother of the musicologist and composer Filaret, Oleksander was born on April 24, 1867, in Khodovychi, Stryi county in Halychyna.

He began his career at Lviv University in 1895, first as a lecturer and later as a professor of linguistics. Through his study of ancient Slavic manuscripts, he outlined many characteristics that distinguished older Ukrainian texts from their Russian counterparts.

In 1899 he was made a full member of the Shevchenko Scientific Society.

Kolessa was also politically active, serving as a member of the Austrian Parliament in Vienna in 1907 and then from 1911 to 1918, defending the educational rights of Ukrainians, including their right to have their own university.

In 1915 he was one of the co-founders of the Vienna-based Ukrainian Cultural Council, which organized émigré schools, and served as its vice-president. In 1921, he served as the Western Ukrainian National Republic's chief of mission in Rome.

Settling in Prague later that year, he soon became a central figure in the city's émigré Ukrainian scholarly life. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Ukrainian Free University in 1921-1922, subsequently taught as a professor there, and also served as its rector in 1935-1937. In 1923, he founded the Ukrainian Historical-Philological Society and served as its vice-president until 1932. He was also the first president of the Ukrainian Academic Committee, established in 1924.

In 1929-1939 he was also on the faculty of Prague University and a member of the city's Slavic Institute. Oleksander Kolessa died in Prague on May 23, 1945.

Source: "Kolessa, Oleksander," Encyclopedia of Ukraine, Vol. 2 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1988).