The Presidential Library brings museum resources together

As part of the events timed to the 70th anniversary of the Great Patriotic War, virtual branch of the Russian Museum in Yekaterinburg presented a relief "Siege of Leningrad" during a videoconference with St. Petersburg. Director of the State Russian Museum Vladimir Gusev greeted the members of the project from the Presidential Library. The project was implemented by a team from Yekaterinburg Art Foundation for Shirokorechensky memorial in Yekaterinburg, where the heroes of the Great Patriotic War are buried in mass graves.

This is the first of six similar reliefs, each of which will cover one of the pages of the Great Patriotic War. The fact that the work began with a grand monumental composition on the Leningrad blockade is a special tribute to those who survived the siege and to work collectives evacuated from the banks of the Neva, whose contribution to the scientific and industrial potential of the Urals is invaluable. 

The "canvas” of an impressive size (the bronze casting is more than six meters long) reflects the key elements of the tragic history of the siege of Leningrad: the beauty of classical architectural landmarks of the city, the state of people suffering from hunger and cold. It even allows the audience to put a hand on a life-sized 125-gram ration of bread. Moreover, the monument embodies the theme of patience and courage of Leningrad residents, who not only survived, but wrote poems and symphonies, saved museum valuable, worked at the Putilov factory, whose conveyor did not stop for a single day during the blockade.

According to Vladimir Gusev, in the information age it is not easy to emotionally involve the younger generation, but such grandiose memorial work as Yekaterinburg relief allows directly appeal to the spiritual world of the young. Relay race of people's memory continues, through the efforts of the Presidential Library as well: it is creating modern information space to preserve the shared memory in electronic form. The director of the Russian Museum has also appreciated the contribution of the regions in the creation of a full-fledged artistic content, educational opportunities of which are inexhaustible.

Modern technology and educational activities of the Presidential Library contribute to the preservation of historical memory, noted the director of the Presidential Library for regional development Sergey Makeev. He said that the efforts to create a single information space are endorsed by cooperation agreements signed in 36 regions of the Russian Federation. The main result of this activity is that today not only the residents of the capital, but readers from distant places have an opportunity to access the collection "Memory of the Great Victory" through electronic reading rooms. As to the project "People’s Memory" it will soon present electronic documents reflecting detailed history of the end of the World War II.

Discussion of the Great Patriotic War, embodied by conceptual artists from Yekaterinburg, was broadcasted live on the website of the Presidential Library.