1st All-Russian Academic and Practical Conference of the Presidential Library is launched in Crimea

The 1st All-Russian Academic and Practical Conference of the Presidential Library, focused on the problems of preservation of the historical memory in the digital environment, is currently underway in Yalta. The event has brought together representatives of libraries, museums, archives from different regions of Russia.

Denis Protsenko, Head of the Directorate of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation in the Southern and North Caucasian Federal Districts, emphasized great importance of uniting regional efforts in digitization of documents and materials, the significance of cooperation in this undertaking, and highlighted the role of the regional directorates of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation in preservation of the cultural heritage.

Valentin Sidorin, Acting Director General of the Presidential Library, stressed the urgency of the theme of the conference. It is relevant to the activities of the Presidential Library, which via electronic resources widely represents the history of the Russian statehood and makes it freely available. The Presidential Library pays much attention to materials, which give an insight into the history of regions of the Russian Federation. Currently the region-based electronic collections feature documents about all 85 constituent entities of our country.

At the conference specialists of the Presidential Library presented unique materials on the history of Crimea, including those which are freely available on the portal of the institution in “The Republic of Crimea: Pages of History” electronic collection. Ivan Kalugin’s book “Diplomatic Relations of Russia with Crimea during the Reign of Ivan III”  and “The Ancient Book of the Crimean Mission Affairs during 1474–1505” portray the life of the peninsula five hundred years ago. The collected works “On Antiquities of the southern Shore of Crimea and the Taurida Mountains“ by the Russian scholar, geographer and ethnographer Peter Koeppen, published in 1837 and dedicated to Grand Duke Alexander Nikolayevich, present wide-ranging materials about the antiquities of Crimea, which are by no means outdated for study .

Yelena Emirova, Head of the Museum and Library Directorate of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Crimea, said: “It is an important event for Crimea. Our region has a great number of cultural heritage sites, and a rich historical past. We need to join our efforts in order to preserve the historical memory”.

The conference spotlights the following key themes: modern information environment and preservation of historical memory, cultural and historical heritage of Crimea, as well as the theoretical and practical work of the Presidential Library focused on preservation of the cultural heritage.

It is worth noting that the conference of the Presidential Library is held as a part of the project „Crimean Palaces – St. Petersburg Palaces” International Music Festival. The project is funded by the grant of the President of the Russian Federation, provided by the Presidential Grants Foundation.

About 50 thousand unique materials and documents from libraries of Simferopol, Yalta, Feodosia, Yevpatoria and Kerch will be provided to the Presidential Library as a result of the active cooperation between cultural institutions of St. Petersburg and Crimea and as part of this project.

The festival is organized by “St. Petersburg Palaces” International Classical Music Festival Foundation headed by the Honored Artist of Russia Maria Safaryants. She highlighted: “This project is a success due to our joint efforts with the Presidential Library, it was many years ago that a close cooperation with the latter was  launched. Together we cover an important issue – the link between music and statehood”.

On September 18, 2018 the Livadia Palace, White Hall will hold “Palace Mozartiana”, the concert that feature the performances of the Australian opera star Eleanor Lyons and prominent Russian musicians: Svetlana Stepchenko (viola), Pavel Raikerus (piano), Sergey Slovachevsky (cello), Maria Safaryants (violin). “Palace Mozartiana” was accompanied by the Academic Symphony Orchestra of Crimea.