In the 1920s and 30s, Soviet Russia was undergoing the process of cultural construction of unprecedented scale. One of its main courses was the creation of new museums and the museumification of ancient monuments, including places of worship. Unfortunately, the campaign against religion that unfolded in the same years had caused irreparable damage to many religious buildings. And although many of them were irretrievably lost, those cathedrals that were converted into museums had a fortunate outcome. Lo longer being places of worship, they continued to fulfill their social, cultural and memorial functions. Thanks to the care of museum workers, the unique examples of Russian church architecture were not only preserved for future generations, but again turned into places of mass pilgrimage of not believers, but sightseers. The political events of the end of the last century, the active and fruitful dialogue between the authorities and the Church led to religious buildings being returned to their former owners — religious organizations. And against this background, disputes have broken out and continued unabated for many years about what should be the fate of museums that had once obtained "residence" in former churches. The round table involves museum experts who have their own answer to the question: "Should a museum be in a church?".
Event moderators: Yekaterina Aleksandrovna Teryukova, Deputy Director for Research of the State Museum of the History of Religion.
Event speakers:
- Lyubov Musienko (Director of the State Museum of the History of Religion) — The Museum of the History of Religion in St. Petersburg: the comparative experience of unctioning in and after the cathedral;
- Tatyana Saracheva (Head of the branch of the State Historical Museum "Pokrovsk Cathedral" (St. Basil's Cathedral)) — Pokrovsky Cathedral on Red Square: from a cathedral to a museum, from a museum to a cathedral;
- Sergey Kalyuzhin (Deputy Director of the State Museum of the History of Saint Petersburg for Science and Development) — The experience of museum work in a memorial church;
- Mohammad Reza Shahroudi Zadeh, curator at the Department of Scientific Research, Astan Quds Razavi Museum, Mashhad (Iran) — Astan Quds Razavi — a pilgrimage or museum center?
- Tatyana Boronoeva (Director of the National Museum of the Republic of Buryatia) — The preservation of the historical monument Ivolginsky datsan "Khambyn Khuree" through the creation of a museum;
- Dmitry Medvinsky, researcher — St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg: a blockade memorial.
