Mintimer Shaimiev: “We need to carry out deeper and further studies of our heritage”

On 21 August at the Ceremonial Building of the Kazan Kremlin, Tatarstan State Counselor Mintimer Shaimiev, who is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Tatarstan Fund of Revival of  Monuments of History and Culture, handed in Letters of appreciation from the Regional Revival Fund to participants and organizers of the festival “Renaissance: Epos in modern interpretation”. The festival organized by the regional Ministry of Culture and the Revival Fund  was held on 15-23 July in the Bolgar Museum-Reserve with participation of theatres, creative amalgamations, folks craft masters, craftsmen and designers from regions of Russia, the CIS and Asia.

The letters were handed in to authors and performers of the Kara Pulat (The Black Chamber) opera, the Art Director of the Tatarstan State Chamber Choir, heads of the Miss Tatarstan and MT Models agencies, representatives of the Ministry of Culture of the republic,the Bolgar Museum-reserve , public leaders and journalists and addressing them, Mintimer Shaimiev thanked them for their enormous work and named them a united team.

“In the nearest past some 10-12 years ago we started restoration of historical monuments, established a special fund and revived Bolgar and Sviyazhsk. All this was done by our benefactors, our residents and organizations as well as by large companies of Russia. Due to support of the head of the republic Rustam Minnikhanov and the government of the country, joint work of benefactors and large and small organizations and with the participation of creative intelligentsia we saw for ourselves that together we can do a lot in various spheres. And really the republic is developing successfully. The tasks are set up with knowledge of the future which unites our entire multi-ethnic nation,” he said.

“As far as our part of work is concerned, maybe we still do not understand completely what useful and promising work we are doing. Now people understand that by reviving the cultural heritage we should also give huge attention to spiritual development. And it is not by chance that the festival “Renaissance: Epos in modern interpretation” was held in Bolgar as in ten years we have completed its material revival and now it is time to revive the spiritual. By restoring multi-age heritage which is dear for us, we start to study and revival the intangible heritage including ancient works of art. We need to carry out deeper and further studies of our heritage and to strive for better understanding of the meaning and the role of cultural heritage in our lives. For example the 1100th anniversary of adoption of Islam in Bolgar would not be acknowledged had we not restored the ancient city of Bolgar. Now we are facing more complicated tasks related to spirituality and to reaching every person through our activities. We are doing interesting work and much has to be done and to organize further work strictly following all UNESCO regulations,” Mintimer Shaimiev concluded.