The International Centre of the Roerichs and the International Committee for the Preservation of the Roerichs Heritage delegations visit to India

The delegation of the International Centre of the Roerichs headed by Mr Alexander V. Stetsenko, First Deputy Director General of the Museum named after Nicholas Roerich and the delegation of the International Committee for the Preservation of the Roerichs Heritage headed by Mr Alexander P. Losyukov visited Shimla, the capital of Himachal Pradesh State, and the International Roerich Memorial Trust in Naggar, Kullu. The goal of the visit was the presentation of the Roerich Memorial House (Naggar) restoration project to the Himachal Pradesh administration and the IRMT directorship as well as discussions on the General Plan of the IRMT development. Mr Sudripta Roy, Chief Secretary of the Himachal Pradesh government, Mrs Upma Chawdhry, Principal Secretary of the Himachal Pradesh Government (Department of Language, Art and Culture)/ the IRMT General Secretary, Mr Devender Gupta, Director of the Department of Language, Art and Culture, Himachal Pradesh Government, Mr Negi, Chief architect of the Himachal Pradesh, Mr Shakti Chandel, Life Trustee of the IRMT, were present at the presentation. The Restoration project implies the restoration of the memorial view of the Roerichs Memorial House where the Roerich family lived for twenty years as well as a set of renovation works. The project also envisages restoration of the House memorial interiors, personal things, and furniture. The project implementation will be done by joint efforts of Russian and Indian experts.

The meeting participants concluded unanimously that the Roerichs' memorial heritage in Naggar is of huge potential, and it should be the basis for creating the international scientific and cultural center which is to continue the work started by the Roerichs. In his speech Mr Stetsenko emphasized: “We would like to make the General plan for the IRMT development an international project that will unite efforts of Indian and Russian experts. We hope that together we will manage to create a project that attracts attention of some international organizations in culture, specifically UNESCO, and world community and representatives of world scientific circles”. Drawing conclusion of the meeting Heads of the HP Government highly valued the Roerichs contribution into the world culture treasury and noted a very important role of the IRMT and the ICR participation in the process of strengthening Indian-Russian cultural ties.

After visiting Shimla the ICR and the ICPRH delegations arrived at Naggar where they met with Mr Rakesh Kanwar, Deputy Commissioner of Kullu district/the IRMT director. Mr Kanwar welcomed cordially Russian delegations and informed them of the current situation in the IRMT. He assured them that the IRMT is ready for constructive cooperation.

Publisings: Roerich trust to be global centre of art and culture /   Tribune News Service, 23.08.2013