Oleksandr Mychajlovyč Kolessa

Oleksander Kolessa (; 24 April 1867 – 23 May 1945) was a Ukrainian ethnographer, linguist, historian of literature and political activist. He was a brother of Filaret Kolessa and the father of Lubka Kolessa.

Biography Oleksander Kolessa was born in Khodovychi, Austrian Galicia(now Stryi Raion, Lviv Oblast). in 1895 he became a docent, and in 1898 professor of Lviv University. In 1899 he joined the Shevchenko Scientific Society. In 1907 Kolessa was elected to the Imperial Council, where he worked on the protection of Ukrainians' rights for education and became a co-founder of the All-Ukrainian Cultural Council in Vienna. In 1921 Kolessa served as a diplomatic representative of West Ukrainian People's Republic in Rome. As a co-founder of the Ukrainian Free University, he served as its rector in 1921–1922, 1925–1928, 1935–1937 and 1943–1944. Between 1923 and 1939 Kolessa also worked as a professor at Charles University.

Scientific career As a linguist, Kolessa belonged to the school of Franz Miklosich. After studying Old Ukrainian texts, in 1924 he published a work on the history of Ukrainian language. In the sphere of literary history, during the 1890s he studied Ukrainian folk songs in the poems of Wacław Zaleski, connections between Taras Shevchenko and Adam Mickiewicz, and presented an overview of works by Yuriy Fedkovych. In 1901 Kolessa published a general summary of Ukrainian literary studies. In 1898 he also authored an article dedicated to the centenary of new Ukrainian literature.

Literary works Oleksander Kolessa became known for his poem Rage, Tyrants , written in 1889 and set to the music of Anatole Vakhnianyn.