Rikke Marianne Helms (born 25 February 1948) is a Danish cultural worker and leader of the

Danish Cultural Institute The Danish Cultural Institute promotes cultural exchanges between Denmark and the rest of the world. It supports projects aimed at long-term cooperation between foreign and Danish cultural institutions, artists and other professionals. The current ...

's office in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Early life and education

Rikke Helms was born in 1948 in

Skive, Denmark Skive is a town in Skive municipality ( Danish, ''Skive Kommune'') in Region Midtjylland at the base of Salling Peninsula, a part of the larger Jutland peninsula in northwest Denmark. It is the municipality's main town and the site of its muni ...

to Dr Peder Georg Helms (1920–2005), a physician, and Sara (née Tønnesen) Helms (1911–1999); she has two brothers. She spent most of her childhood in the eastern

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland i ...

in connection with her parents work as physicians. In 1966, she took the studentereksamen at the Horsens Statsskole. In 1976, she was awarded

cand.mag. Candidatus magisterii (male), or candidata magisterii (female), abbreviated as cand.mag., is an academic degree currently awarded in Denmark. The degree is officially translated into English as Master of Arts and currently requires 5 years of stud ...

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

and

Danish language Danish (; , ) is a North Germanic language spoken by about six million people, principally in and around Denmark. Communities of Danish speakers are also found in Greenland, the Faroe Islands, and the northern German region of Southern Schle ...

studies from the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public research university in Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia after Uppsala Unive ...

. Following a one-year study at the Leningrad State University, she worked as a travel guide for tourists and congresses in the former

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

in the period 1970–75 during her years of studies.

Career

From 1977 to 1985, she worked in Denmark's educational system. She returned in 1985 to the Soviet Union to work as a

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

at the

Moscow State University M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...

until 1990, when she was appointed as the first leader of the newly created

's office in Riga, during a turbulent period when Latvia regained its independence. Helms held this position until 2003 when she was appointed as leader of the Danish Cultural Institute's office in Saint Petersburg. Rikke Helms has been the recipient of several civilian awards for her work. In 1993 she was awarded the Ebbe Muncks Hæderspris. She was awarded the

Order of the Three Stars Order of the Three Stars ( lv, Triju Zvaigžņu ordenis) is the highest civilian order awarded for meritorious service to Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvija ...

, 3rd Class on 7 November 1994, and was the first foreigner after Latvia regained its independence to do so. In 1996 Helms was awarded an honorary Doctorate by the Latvian Academy of Culture. In 2011 she was awarded the Order of the Dannebrog, 3rd Class.

Sources

Artikel hos Horsens Leksikon

Profil i KVINFOs Ekspertdatabase

References

1948 births Living people Danish academics Knights of the Order of the Dannebrog Danish women academics University of Copenhagen alumni Academic staff of Moscow State University {{Denmark-bio-stub