Director of Museum by name of Nicholas Roerich honoured with European Union Award

On Saturday Director-General of the Museum by name of Nicholas Roerich Lyudmila V. Shaposhnikova was presented with European cultural heritage Award - Europa Nostra Award - for her outstanding achievemnts in preservation of European architectural, natural, archeological and artistic heritage. When presenting the award Vice-President of All-European Federation for Cultural Heritage Preservation EUROPA NOSTRA Alexander Sayn-Wittgenstein stressed that: “EU highly appreciates Russia’s efforts in restoration of historical monuments”. The highest accolade has been bestowed on Lyudmila V. Shaposhnikova’s contribution to the restoration of the architectural monument of the 17^th – 18^th centuries – the Lopukhins’ Estate, Moscow, where the Museum by name of Nicholas Roerich is housed.

The award ceremony was held as a part of a conference, dedicated to the 75^th anniversary of the Roerich Pact and hosted in Moscow. “The signing of the Roerich Pact had a great influence on civil society. - Alexander Sayn-Wittgenstein asserted. - This agreement became the basis for new legal initiatives concerning cultural heritage preservation.” “Russia and EU have established a constructive cultural dialogue, - he added. – Russia has contributed greatly into historical monuments restoration, in spite of many difficulties, impeding to achieve this goal.”

This year the world public celebrates the 75^th anniversary of the Roerich Pact, known as the “Treaty for the Protection of Artistic and Scientific Institutions and Historic Monuments” – the first international treaty on the protection of cultural heritage. It was signed on April 15^th 1935 in Washington. During the ceremony in the White House the representatives of the 21 countries of South America and North America put their signatures to this document in Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presence.