Named in honor of the family of outstanding Russian figures of culture whose lives were closely connected with India: Nikolaj Konstantinovich Roerich (1874–1947), painter, writer, philosopher, archaeologist, public figure and enlightener; his wife Elena Ivanovna Roerich (1879–1955), participant in all his expeditions, writer, philosopher; their elder son Yurij Nikolaevich Roerich (1902–1960), scientist in oriental studies and philology; and their younger son, Svyatoslav Nikolaevich Roerich (1904–1993), painter and public figure. (M 22502) _ _.