Tavricheskiy Palace Hosted Conference on Preservation of Cultural Heritage in CIS

The scientific and practical conference dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 "Theory and Practice of Preservation of Cultural Heritage and the Current State of Socio-Cultural Activities in the Commonwealth of Independent States" was held in the Tavricheskiy Palace – the headquarters of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly. The event was co-organized by the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly and the St. Petersburg State Institute of Culture.

The conference was attended by scientists, experts, state and public figures from the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Moldova and the Russian Federation. Their reports and speeches raised the key issues of socio-cultural activities in the modern world, including the preservation of traditional values and moral guidelines, notably, concerning the perpetuation of the memory of the Great Patriotic War.

Secretary General – Head of the IPA CIS Council Secretariat Dmitry Kobitskiy emphasized in the greeting speech sent to the participants the importance of preserving the memory of this event, which is the most important event for the peoples of the CIS countries. “The war inflicted terrible losses upon the peoples of the former USSR. Extensive damage was caused to cultural objects. Our Assembly is currently actively working in the field of harmonization of legislation on the protection of cultural heritage and development of cultural cooperation”, said the message of the Secretary General delivered by Deputy Head of the Expert and Analytical Directorate of IPA CIS Council Secretariat Stanislav Korostelev.

The CIS Interparliamentary Assembly systematically works on preservation of the memory of the Great Patriotic War. This activity was reflected, in particular, in the Model Law on Lasting Tribute to the Defenders of the Nation, developed and adopted by the Assembly in 2015. Another important document in this field is the Convention on Preservation of CIS Cultural Heritage. The work on the project of the Convention is now being finalized.

The CIS Interparliamentary Assembly pays continued attention to the issues of cultural cooperation that result into the engagement with other stakeholders. During the conference, Rector of the St. Petersburg State Institute of Culture Alexander Turgaev declared the prospects for signing a cooperation agreement with the Assembly.

Philanthropist Grachya Poghosyan highly commended the support of the Assembly. He thanked the IPA CIS for organizing the conference and emphasized the international nature of the event.

At the conference, Grachya Poghosyan presented the main results of the activities of his Foundation in the area of perpetuation of memory of those killed in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. Among the results there are the installation of the Monument “To the Fortitude of Leningraders who Defended the City” in the Siege of Leningrad Survivors’ Square in St. Petersburg, the monument at the site of the tragedy on 14 October 1941 at the Tikhvin railway station, a wayside Orthodox cross at the site of the breaking of the Siege of Leningrad next to the diorama, the bust to pilot Grigory Kravchenko, who was the first twice Hero of the Soviet Union, in Sinyavino, as well as about two dozen memorial plates at Soviet military graves. There are more than 200 objects of spiritual, cultural and historical significance among the achievements.

In their reports, conference participants discussed such concepts as “heritage”, “traditions”, “values”, the role of state institutions in preserving the cultural heritage, and establishing an appropriate legal framework.

Alexander Turgaev drew attention to the ambiguity of the topic raised at the conference: “The topic is very complex, since the word “heritage” has largely changed its meaning for various political and other reasons.”

Dean of the Faculty of Socio-Cultural Technologies of the St. Petersburg State Institute of Culture Vladimir Eremenko pointed out the particular difficulty of preserving traditions in the context of a global value conflict and decay of prevailing norms.

Secretary of the IPA CIS Permanent Commission on Culture, Information, Tourism and Sport Konstantin Pshenko indicated a number of obstacles to development of intercultural dialogue in the Commonwealth. In his opinion, it results from the lack of awareness about culture, traditions and achievements in the CIS countries, the decrease of professional and youth exchanges, of mutual translation of literary works etc.

“It is possible to solve these problems only by providing conditions for a broad dialogue, mutual understanding, trust, respect and tolerance for the various cultural directions and laws of the peoples of the CIS. This will provide an opportunity for their cultural prosperity and mutual enrichment”, said Konstantin Pshenko while emphasizing the significance of the full-fledged legal basis for addressing problems in the sphere of culture and in shaping the common cultural space of the CIS.

Various aspects were highlighted in reports by Senior researcher at the Gatchina State Museum-Reserve Maria Kirpichnikova, Deputy Director of the Russian State Archive of the Navy Marina Malevinskaya, Chairman of the Russian Creative Union of Cultural Workers Anatoly Konstantinov, professor of the Department of Social and Cultural Activities of the St. Petersburg State Institute of Culture Lev Vostryakov, President of the Center for International Business and Cultural Cooperation Fedor Kozlov. Deputy Secretary General of the IPA CIS Council – Plenipotentiary Representative of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia Hayk Chilingaryan also participated in the conference.

Within the framework of the event, the presentation of the scientific reference work “Lifting the Siege”, the fourth volume of the five-volume publication “Leningrad. War. Siege”, featuring new, previously unpublished studies and archival documents of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation took place. The project was presented by Head of the department of the Research Institute (Military History) of the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation Eduard Korshunov.

The documentary film “Road 101” of the “Mir” Interstate Broadcasting Company, filmed on the occasion of the 77^th anniversary of the breaking of the Siege of Leningrad, was also presented during the conference.

The conference concluded with a resolution, which will be used in the future activities of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly in order to further develop the socio-cultural integration of the Commonwealth countries.