Maria Dandamayeva, the scientific secretary of the Hermitage, died in St. Petersburg.

Mariam Dandamayeva, Scientific Secretary of the State Hermitage Museum, who worked in the Oriental Department for more than 40 years, has died. This was announced on May 12 by the museum's press service.

"It is with deep sorrow that the State Hermitage Museum announces that Mariam Magomedovna Dandamayeva passed away on May 12, 2026. <...> For colleagues, Mariam Magomedovna was not only an outstanding scientist and an impeccable professional, but also a person of rare spiritual generosity, nobility and tact," the press service wrote on the Telegram channel.

The museum staff expressed sincere condolences to the family and friends of the deceased and called her death a loss of exceptional magnitude due to her contribution to the scientific mission and cultural service of the Hermitage. According to her colleagues, Dandamayeva combined rare scientific erudition with inner composure and a sense of responsibility to science.

Mariam Dandamayeva was born in 1957. She graduated from Leningrad State University. Zhdanova was enrolled in the graduate school of the State Hermitage Museum in December 1982, after which she was hired by the staff of the Oriental Department. Dandamayeva was engaged in research in the field of assyriology, thanks to her work, the museum held a number of significant conferences and events, as well as published her scientific papers. In 2003, she took up the post of academic secretary of the museum.