Austrian Library Celebrates 20th Anniversary
On Friday, September 23, an Austrian delegation led by the Austrian Ambassador to the Russian Federation, Dr. Emil Brix, visited the Higher School of Economics in Nizhny Novgorod on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Austrian Library in Nizhny Novgorod.
The Austrian library represents a space open not only for HSE — NN students and teaching staff, but for general public as well. It features more than 6,000 books. Each year, it hosts numerous events on a broad range of topics.
Meeting with Academia and Russian Diplomatic Service
In the first part of the event, organised by HSE – NN director Prof. Valery Zusman, the Ambassador of Austria to the RF Dr. Emil Brix, the Trade Commissioner of Austrian Embassy to the RF Dr. Dietmar Fellner, the Honorary Consul of Austria in Nizhny Novgorod Jurij Titov met with leading members of academia and representatives of the Russian diplomatic service: Deputy Director of the Department of External Relations of Nizhny Novgorod Regional Government Yury Oblivin, Head of the Committee for External Economic and Interregional Relations of Nizhny Novgorod city administration Maria Kondratieva, Rector of Nizhny Novgorod State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering Prof. Andrey Lapshov, the Third Secretary of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Nizhny Novgorod, Olga Savina.
Professor of the International UNESCO Department of Nizhny Novgorod State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering Tatyana Vinogradova told the guests how Austrian Professor of Innsbruck University Rainer Graeffe saved the Shukhov Tower in Moscow from deterioration and fought for its restoration.
Ambassador of Austria to the RF Emil Brix and Rector of Nizhny Novgorod State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering Prof. Andrey Lapshov came up with the initiative to award the Shukhov Tower the status of a UNESCO object of the world's heritage.
Fireside Talk
In the second part of his visit, the Ambassador joined a fireside talk, moderated by the Austrian lecturer at the HSE, Dionys Neubacher.
In his opening statement, the Ambassador underlined the significant importance of humanities in diplomacy and inspired students to join the diplomatic service.
The fireside talk, a new tradition at the HSE, attracted great interest among the faculty and the student community in Nizhny and was joined by faculty and students of HSE, the Lobachevsky State University and the Dobrolyubov State Linguistic University.
The Ambassador discussed with the students the current Austrian-Russian relations, the role of Austria in EU-Russian relations, migration, and visa politics.
The first event in Nizhny Novgorod was organised in spring 2016, when Mr. Neubacher and his students invited the Austrian Cultural Attachee Simon Mraz and the Austrian businessman Richard Auer-Welsbach to discuss business models and ecological benefits of organic farming. In Austria, a world leader in organic farming, roughly 17% of all farms are engaged in organic farming.