Mintimer Shaimiev has spoken at an International conference in archeological wood restoration

On 1 November Tatarstan State Counselor Mintimer Shaimiev, who is also the Chairman of the Trustees Council of the regional Revival Fund and the UNESCO Good Will Ambassador, the Chairman of the Board of Russian Historical Society- the Executive Director of the History of the Fatherland Fund of Russian Academy of Sciences Konstantin Mogilevsliy, the Executive Director of the ICOM in Russia Olga Chistova, the Director of the Museum-Reserve of the Town-Island of Sviyazhsk Artyom Silkin, the Director of the Institute of Archeology of Tatarstan Academy of Sciences Ayrat Sitdikov and the Director of International Relations Institute of the Kazan Federal University Ravil Khayrutdinov took part in a plenary session of the international conference “Restoration, Conservation and Museumfication of the archeological wood and organic materials”, which opened in Kazan.

In his welcoming speech to the participants of the conference Mintimer Shaimiev stressed that the conference is being held in a year that was declared the Year of Cultural Heritage of Peoples of Russia in the Russian Federation and the year of celebrating the 1100th anniversary of adoption of Islam by the Volga Bulgaria and underlined that Tatarstan – in the last decades especially is actively dealing with issues of cultural heritage revival and preservation.

The Counselor told about the work done by the Regional Revival Fund and cooperation between the republic and UNESCO.

“It is very pleasant that a huge number of benefactors take part in restoration of historic heritage of multi-ethnic Tatarstan which resulted in the Kazan Kremlin, the Bolgar Historical and Archeological Complex and the Assumption Cathedral and the monastery of the Town-Island of Sviyazhsk having been inscribed into the UNESCO World Heritage List”, Mintimer Shaimiev said.

“As we can see and understand that never has the revival of spirituality of our society been as important as it is today. In his speech at the summarizing plenary session of the Valday Club the President of our Country Vladimir Putin noted: “Development should go on in a dialogue with civilization and be supported by spiritual and moral values”. And we together with you are following this way, implementing really unique projects one of which is the Archeological Wood Museum “The Tatar Settlement” in the Museum-Reserve of the Town-Island of Sviyazhsk “, the State Counselor said and in conclusion thanked all scientists who made their contribution into establishment of this most rare museum of the world – the only museum of history of archeological wood museumfication.

More than 100 specialists from Russia, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Syria, Mongolia, Belarus, China, India and other countries are taking part in the conference which is discussing issues of wet layer research, conservation, restoration and display of exhibits made of wood, birch bark, bark, leather and other organic materials.