[1] Lukonin was born in Leningrad on 21 January 1932; his mother was a physician and his father an army general.
He studied at the Oriental faculty of the Leningrad State University, and did postgraduate work at the Hermitage Museum.
Formation of the Sasanian State and Artifacts of the Official Art" and he was awarded a D.Litt.
[1] Lukonin worked on archaeological excavations in Central Asia each year from 1951 to 1963, and in 1957 took up a post in the Oriental department of the Hermitage Museum.
[1] In 1988, Mary Anna Marten established the Ancient Persia Fund at the British Museum in his honour.