Gala evening dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Roerich Pact in the ICR
On April 15, in the museum named after Nicholas Roerich of the ICR took place a solemn evening dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Roerich Pact and the opening of the exhibition "Peace through Culture", which is dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Roerich Pact, the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II and the Soviet victory in the Great Patriotic War, as well as 70 anniversary of the UN.
The exhibition in Moscow preceded the presentation of the other ICR exhibition - "Roerich Pact. History and Modernity ", which opened the same day in New York.
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The President of the ICR, the President of the International Roerichs’ Heritage Preservation Committee, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Alexander Losyukov greeted the audience gathered at the Museum named after Nicholas Roerich. He conveyed his congratulations to the guests present in the halls of the museum and especially the representatives of countries that back in 1935 have become signatories of the Roerich Pact, the first international treaty aimed at protection the world's cultural heritage. The Embassy representatives of US, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, India were present at the event. "80 years passed after the historic moment when the Pact was signed - said the president of the ICR - but still mass of armed conflicts are smoldering around the world." Alexander Losyukov stressed the role of Nicholas Roerich, as a man who came to the idea of the effective protection of culture: "His achievement is that he almost single-handedly brought the idea to a particular result and we have to remember and honor his feat. Nicholas Roerich pointed out to the way to peace through culture. Roerich Pact has become a powerful anti-war document, and we must continue to promote this idea in modern life." Alexander Losyukov said that in 2012 the ICR has prepared a program of international cultural and educational exhibition project "Roerich Pact. History and Modernity". It is the third year that he project is being held in cities and countries around the world.
Alexander Losyukov read out to the guests of the evening the appeal of the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon concerning the opening of the ICR exhibition in the building of the UN General Assembly in New York, dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Roerich Pact, which states: "This exhibition pays tribute to the ground-breaking Roerich Pact and bears witness to our determination to take its spirit forward. I wish to thank the International Centre of the Roerichs for organizing this inspiring display. I appeal to governments and people everywhere to come together to safeguard our common heritage and humanity.”
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First Vice-President of the International Centre of the Roerichs, Director General of the Museum named after Nicholas Roerich, Honored Art-worker of Russia, Lyudmila Shaposhnikova stressed the role and importance of the Roerich Pact, which has become one of the pillars of cosmic evolution. She revealed the essence of the three main objectives which Roerich family members were to perform. These objectives were the Central Asian expedition, the proclamation of Cultural protection as urgent task of mankind (Roerich Pact) and the creation of the Himalayan Research Institute "Urusvati". Lyudmila Shaposhnikova spoke about the ongoing struggle in the Cosmos between Light and darkness, which in one way or another involves any celestial body, including our Earth; as well as about the necessity to weaken darkness and expand the light, without which there will be no future. Lyudmila Shaposhnikova raised the problem of the formation and the coming of a new era: "This is a new science - metascience, new art – meta-art, new music. The most important thing is a new level of human consciousness."Lyudmila Shaposhnikova told about the evolutionary significance of the Roerichs heritage and the Non-Governmental Museum named after Nicholas Roerich in Russia, as well as about active attempts to destroy this unique museum, which is a spiritual magnet for the country’s culture: "We should make every effort to oppose this and achieve the preservation of what has been created."
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Head of India Sector under 2nd Asia Department Andrey Zhiltsov read out the address of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to the participants of the gala evening. He also assured that the Russian Foreign Ministry is doing and will do in the future everything possible to preserve the heritage of the Roerichs in India, Naggar and Tataguni.
Jeffrey Sexton, Minister-Counselor for Public Affairs of the US Embassy in the Russian Federation in his speech paid attention to the issues of international importance of Nicholas Roerich ideas: "His whole life was devoted to the struggle for peace. His long-term activity to protect cultural property didn’t pursue only the interests of one nation. The main objective was the preservation of the world cultural heritage for the sake of all humanity. In the words of Roerich himself: "the Russian word Mir means both the absence of war (peace) and the whole universe (world). Therefore, the universe and peaceful creativity are inseparable." This idea became the cornerstone of creative and social activity of Nicholas Roerich. His ideas and principles in respect to the cultural heritage of the Earth have become the norms of international law, as it evidenced by the signing of the Roerich Pact."
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Minister-Counselor, Consul General of the Embassy of Costa Rica in the Russian Federation Paul Christian Chen Wendorf appealed to the leadership of the museum and the guests of the evening with the words: "I wish continued success to the ICR and Nicholas Roerich Museum in promoting such important and relevant activities aimed at promoting peace through the idea of "Peace through Culture," which became the foundation of the Roerich Pact."
Second Secretary for Information and Culture of the Indian Embassy in the Russian Federation Ashish Sharma named Nicholas Roerich a man who "tried to make our world a better place," realizing that the protection of Culture brings people together: "For us, everything connected with the name of Nicholas Roerich, is especially important because the great artist chose India as his spiritual home, his work has enriched the Russian-Indian friendship." Ashish Sharma told about the Russian-Indian culture festival held in the Kullu valley in October 2013, mentioning also that the government of Indian Karnataka state has allocated 5 million dollars for the restoration of the Svetoslav Roerich’s estate in Tataguni.
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Deputy Head of the Federal Agency for CIS Affairs, Compatriots Living Abroad and International Humanitarian Cooperation (Rossotrudnichestvo) Alexander Radkov made a special emphasis in his speech on the fact that, speaking of the Roerich Pact, we primarily have in mind the universal values. The "good" and "evil", "peace" and "war", "light" and "darkness", these simple words are clear and understandable to representatives of all religions, without exception, to all the people who speak different languages.
The representative of the Moscow Department of Culture, director of the Moscow Center for museums development Tatyana V. Ghafar stressed two important points: first point is that the Roerich Pact is dedicated to the preservation of scientific and spiritual values and the second point is that its symbol, the Banner of Peace reminds people about the connection between the past, present and future. Especially Tatyana Ghafar emphasized the role of museums, the main purpose of which once expressed M.A.Sholokhov: "Museum today carries out the work of a notary. There are heirs who do not know about their heritage. The role of the notary is to find these heirs and tell them how much wealth was bequeathed to them. "
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First Vice-President of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, Chief Scientific Secretary L.V. Ivanitskaya on behalf of her colleagues congratulated the ICR staff on the solemn event and awarded Lyudmila Shaposhnikova with a V.I.Vernadsky’s silver medal of honor for commitment to humanism.
The greeting address from the President of the Russian Academy of Arts Zohrab Tsereteli was read out by member of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Arts, Director of Research Institute of Theory and History of Art, A.V. Tolstoy: "I am confident that the Gala evening dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the signing of the Roerich Pact, will be an outstanding international event and I wish the organizers, participants and guests of the project new achievements in the noble cause of service to culture."
In his congratulatory address the President of the Russian Philosophical Society, Academician V.S.Stepin noted that one of the most important values of the Pact is that "it is aimed at the total elimination of wars. Nicholas Roerich's appeal "Peace through Culture", which is the ideological basis of the Pact is the direction to achieve the great goal of all mankind - the establishment of peace in the world "
The anniversary of the Roerich Pact and the opening of the exhibition "Peace through Culture" in Museum named after Nicholas Roerich was welcomed by Vladimir Tolstoy, the President of ICOM, Counselor to the President of the Russian Federation for Culture and Arts, the Secretary of the Council for Culture under the Russian President who mentioned "the invaluable role of the Roerich Pact, the first ever international treaty for the protection of the world cultural heritage, put the priority of cultural property protection above the military necessity This is especially relevant given conflicts and wars that occurred on our planet over the last 80 years. Roerich Pact has not only a legal, but also philosophical, educational and evolutionary significance because it reflects the idea of protecting the culture in many of its manifestations."
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, President of the International Foundation for Socio-Economic and Political Studies Mikhail Gorbachev in his message said: "Even today, the idea has been maturing on the necessity for the most influential figures of our time to make an appeal to the states and all members of the international community, which would suggest the peaceful and honorable way for solution the current crisis in the world and would formulate answers to the severe challenges of the twenty-first century. I fully support this idea and began its discussion with my partners, veterans of world politics in Europe, America and other continents. "
The official part of the gala evening ended with the concert of a trio "New Names", who performed the piece by Dmitry Shostakovich.
Before attending the exhibition "Peace through Culture", Deputy Director General of the Museum named after Nicholas Roerich Natalya Cherkashina told the guests of the evening about its main sections and exhibits.
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