Mikayel Nalbandian

Armenian Author

Mikayel Nalbandian

Միքայել Նալբանդյան

1829–1866

Armenian poet, essayist, translator, and reform-minded intellectual who championed modern language and civic freedom.
Poetry Essays Political writing Literary criticism

About Mikayel Nalbandian

Born in New Nakhichevan, Mikayel Nalbandian became a leading voice of the nineteenth-century Armenian cultural awakening. He taught, studied medicine, traveled widely, and helped edit the influential journal Hyusisapayl.

Nalbandian advocated secular education, modern Armenian, social reform, and freedom. His poem Song of an Italian Girl supplied the text later used for Armenia’s national anthem, while his essays and criticism helped shape modern Armenian intellectual life.

Books by Mikayel Nalbandian