Kazimirski, un orientaliste atypique à redécouvrir : (20 novembre 1808 Korchow ‒ 22 juin 1887 Paris)

This biographical article summarizes the life and work of the Franco-Polish Orientalist Albert de Biberstein Kazimirski (1808–1887) through three prisms: the Polish exile, the great Orientalist, and the diplomat. The research is based on a multitude of sources gathered across ten European countries. Kazimirski, a Polish patriot, actively participated in the November Uprising (1830–31) in Warsaw. He studied Oriental languages in Poland, Germany, and France. As a specialist in Persian studies, he served as a dragoman at the French embassy in Iran in 1839-40. His distinguished diplomatic career spanned thirty-six years in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where he held the role of a Persian interpreter and served as an unofficial liaison officer with the Hôtel Lambert. Kazimirski distinguished himself under the reign of Napoleon III, notably during the Crimean War and the Peace Treaty of 1857 between England and Persia. He was nominated as an officer of the Legion of Honor and was consulted by the Czartoryski princes. Author of the most popular French translations of the Koran and the first French Arabic dictionary, he is a prominent Arabist and a reference in Arabic and French Islamic studies up to this day.