"Papa Riga"

This is what the students of the Humanities Faculty of NSU lovingly called Mikhail Iosifovich Rizhsky, and he was not offended by them, since he was an amazingly kind man, well educated, and was highly respected by many generations of students and graduates of the university, and by the teaching staff.

The exhibition is dedicated to this legendary historian and teacher. The exhibition takes place in the Art Living Room of the House of Scientists of the Novosibirsk Academic Town.

Mikhail Iosifovich came to Akademgorodok at the invitation of A.P. Okladnikov, together with him and V.A. Avrorin stood at the origins of the Faculty of Humanities of NSU. He did a lot of organizational work to establish a historical specialty, developed curricula, supervised the work of young teachers, and published teaching aids for students on the history of the Ancient World, on the history of translations of the Bible, and Latin. Like many university teachers of that time, he helped students grow up and develop life principles, went with them to the Opera House and the Red Torch, went to the cinema at the Institute of Geology, to the Coffee Club.

Among the exhibits of the exhibition are the personal belongings of the scientist – summer and winter briefcases, cane, hat, cigarette case, finds from archaeological expeditions, personal documents and photographs from the family archive, letters from friends and students. A significant part of the exhibition is represented by books and magazines with the works of the scientist ("Essays on the Ancient History of Transbaikalia", "Book of Job", "Biblical Freethinkers", etc.) and literature about him.

The exhibition was prepared by the NSU History Museum and the NSU Scientific Library and will last until March 3, 2024.