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The Museum by name of Nicholas Roerich is situated in the very heart of Moscow, on the territory of the ancient Mansion of the Lopukhins. It hardly resembles other art museums and galleries. Its history and fate are as unique and unusual as the life of the man whose name it bears.
The initiative of the first in the country cultural institution of a new type, the Nicholas Roerich Public Museum, belongs to Svetoslav Nikolayevich Roerich – a great painter, thinker, versatile scientist, talented pedagogue and famous public figure. The Museum establishment in the status of a public cultural center was determined by Svetoslav Roerich’s understanding of culture. A cultural organization, in his opinion, must be not a state organization, but public. As S. Roerich predicted, considerable independence in use of new approaches, possibility for wide cultural initiative and versatile collaboration with the International community above all departmental barriers, allowed to create in Russia a unique synthetic cultural center – Museion of the 21st century, emanation of the new time and new cultural and historical tasks.
The Museum contents are constituted by the Roerichs’ priceless cultural heritage passed over to the Soviet Roerichs Foundation (now International Center of the Roerichs) by Svetoslav Roerich in 1990. Exceptionally rich in terms of artistic, philosophic, and scientific thought, it carries in itself a new cosmic world outlook the interest for which is growing every year.
The core of the Roerichs’ heritage is the philosophy of cosmic reality – the Living Ethics, which develops the idea of a close relationship between man and Cosmos, contains knowledge helping to understand specific features of starting now evolutionary stage in the development of mankind.
The Museum exposition created by the General Director of the Museum by name of Nicholas Roerich Ludmila Shaposhnikova, reflects the key stages in life and creative path of our great compatriots and acquaints visitors with their truly dedicated activities. Unique exhibits saturated with spiritual energies fill ancient vaulted halls with a special aura.
Nicholas and Svetoslav Roerich’s canvases, reflecting the cosmic character of world perception, allow to come into contact with the endless and magnificent world of the Beautiful. In them – in color and symbols – the reflection of the Living Ethics philosophic ideas. Various relics, the gifts of the Roerichs’ Spiritual Teacher, manuscript and art rarities, books and monographs from the Roerichs’ Memorial Library; personal belongings and objects that accompanied them in long wanderings, photo documents and a collection of ancient bronze from the Indian valley of Kulu – all this and many other things comprise the Nicholas Roerich Museum exposition, expanding the circle of usual images, making one strive for cognition of the new cosmic reality. Thanks to Maecenases, the museum exposition is constantly replenished with new exhibits, including the Roerichs’ priceless paintings.
The Museum art collection peculiarity is the extensive collection of Himalayan sketches painted by N. Roerich. It is these sketches that make the basis for traveling exhibitions demonstrated in Russia, CIS countries, and abroad. The Nicholas Roerich Museum is the only one of the country museums that organizes traveling exhibitions in the most remote corners of Russia, not confining itself to major cities and cultural centers. This gives to millions of people an opportunity to come into contact with the Roerichs’ amazing canvases.
The distinctive feature of the Museum by name of Nicholas Roerich is its versatile cultural and scientific activities going far beyond the framework of traditional museum work. In the Museum halls, annual International conferences, dedicated to important issues of culture and science with participation of well-known scientists and public figures are held. Exhibitions of modern painters-cosmists, classical music concerts, lectures with participation of leading representatives of science and specialists in the field of philosophy, history, culture and pedagogy, children’s drawing competitions, festivals of ethnic culture, exhibitions of folk crafts and creative function events are organized. At the same time, the Museum actively collaborates with many state and public organizations, including International ones.
Thus, for the years of its existence, the Nicholas Roerich non-governmental dynamically developing Museum has turned into a truly unique spiritual and cultural Russian Center for preservation, development, and popularization of the Roerich family philosophic and artistic heritage, and the main outcome of their life – philosophy of cosmic reality – the Living Ethics.
One cannot help noting the exceptional leading role in the establishment of the Museum by name of Nicholas Roerich and the development of its unchanging General Director, Svetoslav Roerich’s authorized representative and testamentary executor, the International Center of the Roerichs First Vice-President, the RF Honored Worker of Arts, Academician Ludmila Vassilyevna Shaposhnikova, who determines all the principal trends of its life.
To her, an outstanding scientist and talented organizer, truly dedicated to Culture, Svetoslav Roerich entrusted bringing his parents’ unique legacy to their Motherland, and it is her whom he recommended as the Museum head, in all ways supporting all her initiatives.
Restored from ruins and reconstructed with a lot of love the Mansion of the Lopukhins (17th – 19th centuries), in the main building of which the Museum by name of Nicholas Roerich is located, re-created “Krasnoye” (“Red”) porch (17th century), and the Roerich family memorial sculptural complex have turned the Museum into an authentic architectural and artistic ensemble of the Russian capital. All works have been performed thanks to the support of Maecenases and many friends of the Museum, without any financing on the part of the state, what confirms viability and efficiency of the public form for a cultural organization.
However, bureaucrats could not put up with the loss of possibility to manage the cultural values passed over by S. Roerich to a public museum. During all these years, many attempts to paralyze and destroy its activity on the part of various state departments have been made. And this is also a kind of “uniqueness”. There is hardly any other museum in the world against which the state would wage a shameless and merciless war for almost two decades, a war aimed at its complete destruction. Until now, 288 canvases by Nicholas and Svetoslav Roerich from our Museum exposition are illegally retained by the State Museum of Oriental Art.
The Roerichs’ heritage is the key to the most important creative achievements of mankind. Its significance for the fate of Russia and the whole world cannot be overestimated. Protection of the Heritage and its development for the future of Russia is our immediate duty and obligation.
