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International Day of Culture
Every year on 15 April in Russia and many countries of the world celebrate the International Day of Culture, established in honour of the adoption on 15 April 1935 of the Roerich Pact - the first international legal act for the protection of cultural property.
The artist and philosopher Nikolai Roerich began working on an international document that would ensure the preservation of world cultural monuments in the event of armed conflicts during the First World War. In 1929 he presented to the general public a draft Treaty on the Protection of Artistic and Scientific Institutions and Historical Monuments, developed jointly with G. G. Shklyaver, Doctor of International Law and Political Sciences of the University of Paris.
The project was warmly supported by cultural and scientific institutions and many famous figures of the time: A. Einstein, T. Mann, B. Shaw, H. Wells, M. Maeterlinck and others. The project was approved by the Museum Committee of the League of Nations and on 15 April 1935 it was signed in Washington with the personal participation of the US President F. Roosevelt, receiving its second name - the Roerich Pact. N.K. Roerich hoped that the Pact would have not only protective but also educational value "and from the first school days will educate the young generation with noble ideas about preserving the true values of all mankind".
The Roerich Pact was the basis for the Hague "International Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict" (1954) and many other international documents in the field of cultural heritage protection.
In 1998, the International League for the Protection of Culture, established in 1996 by the International Roerich Centre, took the initiative to celebrate the day of the signing of the Roerich Pact as the International Day of Culture. The symbol of the holiday is the Banner of Peace proposed by N.K. Roerich for the Treaty for the Protection of Cultural Property. It is a white cloth depicting three adjoining amaranth circles - past, present and future achievements of mankind, surrounded by a ring of Eternity. According to the Roerich Pact, this distinctive flag, displayed by cultural institutions during military conflicts, entitles them to special patronage and respect from the warring states and peoples of all treaty countries.
Lit.: Капустин А., Баренбойм П., Захаров А., Кравченко Д. Пакт Рериха как основа новой Конвенции ООН о защите культурных ценностей. М., 2014; Пакт Рериха: Договор об охране художественных и научных учреждений и исторических памятников, подписанный в Белом Доме представителями двадцати одной американской республики 15 апреля 1935 года в 12 часов дня // Международный Центр Рерихов [Электронный ресурс]. URL: https://icr.su/rus/evolution/pact/; Рерих Н. К. Знамя Мира: Сборник статей. Харбин, 1934; Рерих Ю. Н. Н. К. Рерих в борьбе за мир. М., 1959 // Мир через культуру. М., 1990; Шапошникова Л. В. Актуальность Пакта Рериха в современном мире // Журнал «Культура и время». 2005. № 4 (18).
Based on the materials of Presidential Library:
Year of the Cultural Heritage of the Peoples of Russia: [digital collection]