6.09.2013

Delegations of the International Centre of the Roerichs and the International Roerichs’ Heritage Preservation Committee visit India

The delegation of the International Centre of the Roerichs (ICR) headed by Mr Alexander V. Stetsenko, First Deputy Director General of the Museum named after Nicholas Roerich, and the delegation of the International Roerichs’ Heritage Preservation Committee (IRHPC) headed by Mr Alexander P. Losyukov visited Shimla, the capital of the State of Himachal Pradesh, and the International Roerich Memorial Trust in Naggar, Kullu. The purpose of the visit was to present the Roerich Memorial House (Naggar) Restoration Project to the Himachal Pradesh administration and the IRMT management as well as to discuss the General Plan of the IRMT development. Mr Sudripta Roy, Chief Secretary, Government of Himachal Pradesh, Mrs Upma Chawdhry, Principal Secretary, Government of Himachal Pradesh (Department of Language, Art and Culture)-cum-General Secretary, IRMT, Mr Devender Gupta, Director, Department of Language, Art and Culture, Himachal Pradesh Government, Mr Negi, Chief Architect of Himachal Pradesh, Mr Shakti Chandel, Life Trustee of the IRMT, attended the presentation. The Restoration Project envisages reconstruction of the historical appearance of the Roerichs Memorial House where the Roerich family lived for twenty years as well as a number of renovation works. It also envisages restoration of the memorial interiors of the House, personal belongings, and furniture. The project will be implemented jointly by the Russian and Indian experts.

The participants of the meeting unanimously concluded that the Roerichs' memorial heritage in Naggar has great potential, and it should be the basis for creating the international scientific and cultural center to continue the work started by the Roerichs. In his speech Mr Stetsenko emphasized: “We would like to make the General Plan for the IRMT development an international project that will unite efforts of Indian and Russian experts. We hope that together we will manage to create a project that attracts attention of certain international cultural organizations, specifically UNESCO, world community and representatives of world academic circles.” Concluding the meeting the Heads of the HP Government highly appreciated the Roerichs’ contribution to the treasury of world culture and noted the extremely important role that the IRMT and the ICR play in the process of strengthening the Indo-Russian cultural relations.

After visiting Shimla the ICR and the IRHPC delegations arrived in Naggar where they had a meeting with Mr Rakesh Kanwar, Deputy Commissioner, Kullu District-cum-Director, IRMT. Mr Kanwar cordially welcomed the Russian delegations and informed them of the current situation in the IRMT. He assured them that the IRMT was ready for constructive cooperation.