UNESCO-World Heritage: High ranking visit from Kazan University

7 March 2020

On February 17, 2020, a high ranking delegation from Kazan University visited Hamburg Observatory. The Engelhardt Observatory of the university in the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan in the Russian Federation was, like Hamburg Observatory, built in the beginning of the 20th century and mostly equipped with astronomical instruments made in Germany. As in Hamburg, the historical buildings and instruments have been preserved in good condition until present and are open to the public. At the same time, Kazan University is doing high level astronomical research.

By signing a bilateral memorandum, both institutes sealed their intention to fathom ways and means for scientific cooperation on the one hand and for a common transnational serial UNESCO nomination of the two historical observatories on the other hand.

The two institutes are joint in cooperation by the Russian-German project eROSITA even today. The new X-ray telescope eROSITA launched in 2019 will search for new X-ray sources like galaxy clusters and supermassive Black Holes for the next four years. 

Photo: Dr. Rafael Valeev, Institute of International Relations of the University of Kazan, Vice president of the Russian committee of ICOMOS and Prof. Robi Banerjee, managing director of Hamburg  Observatory.