After graduation in 1888, Dmitry Aynalov was assigned to the
Saint Petersburg State University. For two years he was preparing to become a
full professor in the field of art theory and art history. He accepted the position of an assistant professor at the
Kazan University. In 1890-1903 he taught art history of the
Classical antiquity and
Kievan Rus' at that university's Department of Art Theory and Art History. He visited Italy in order to collect material for his
dissertation, entitled
The Hellenistic Foundations of the Byzantine Art. By this time he had gained many awards, which earned him the rights to nobility. From 1922-1929 he worked at the
Hermitage Museum. Aynalov had an interest in
archaeology. As a member of the Russian Archaeological Society, he took part in meetings and fulfilled various requests, e.g. in 1904-1905 as requested by the Moscow Archaeological Society he studied the church architecture of
Chernigov. He was particularly interested in
Chersonesus and the
Crimean Peninsula architecture. He died in
Leningrad in 1939, and was buried at the
Volkovo Cemetery with his spouse Nadezhda. == Publications ==