VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
The Russian-Italian partnership in education and culture is based on an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in education and culture signed on February 10, 1998, with the two countries implementing exchange programs normally designed for three-year periods.
Russia and Italy's efforts in increasing cultural and educational links currently aim at planning and holding events to mark the Year of Russian Culture and Language in Italy and the Year of Italian Culture and Language in Russia in 2011. The corresponding agreement was reached at the fifth round of the top-level Russian-Italian interstate consultations on November 6, 2008 in Moscow.
On December 3, 2009, Russia and Italy signed the protocol for planning and holding events for these cultural years in the sixth round of the consultations in Rome. On April 21, 2010, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov chaired the meeting of Russian members of the organizing committee in Moscow, where they outlined the Russian branch of the program and discussed organisational and financial issues. Zhukov is scheduled to meet with Gianni Letta, Undersecretary of State to the Presidency of the Italian Council of Ministers and chairman of the committee's Italian branch, to approve the overall Russian-Italian program on May 28, 2010 in Rome.
The opening ceremony is planned for the first quarter of 2011 in Rome. The two countries are considering two plans for the opening events, the first one would be an extensive exhibition to showcase works by Alexander Deineka, Soviet painter and graphic artist from the first half of the 20th century, and the second one would be an ethno-folk gala performance featuring leading Russian ensembles. The two countries agreed to hold the cultural years' closing ceremony in November or December 2011 in Moscow, with performances by the opera and ballet troupes of Milan's La Scala, given at the renovated State Academic Bolshoi Theatre.
After the plans for the program are finalized, preparations for the Russian-Italian cultural events will be broadly covered by broadcast and print media both in Russia and Italy, as well as on the Internet.
The year 2009 saw the expansion of Russian-Italian cultural and educational relations which were marked by reciprocal exhibitions, theatre and music events as well as cooperation in cinema and television production.
On March 1, 2009, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and the Italian president attended a ceremony transferring ownership of the building of the Russian Orthodox Church of St Nicholas the Wonderworker from Italy to Russia in the Italian city of Bari.
The Gogol Days festival, held in Moscow with the support of Russian and Italian culture ministers to mark the Russian writer's 200th birthday, enjoyed vast success. The year 2009 also saw a number of large-scale cultural events supported by the Fund for Cultural and Social Initiatives, namely the St Petersburg's Mikhailovsky Theatre's tour in Venice, the porcelain doll exhibition at the Mocenigo Palace museum featuring items from the Samara Art Museum's children's gallery, events commemorating the author Joseph Brodsky, the Summer Art Garden festival, the Young Russian Culture in Italy festival held in Rome, Santa Marinella, Civitavecchia and Tolfa, and the Russian Evening cultural event in Milan.
The largest exhibition projects from last year were Titian's "Portrait of an Unknown Man (The Man with Grey Eyes)", a work from the collection of the museum of Palazzo Pitti in Florence displayed at Moscow's Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Russia's participation in the 53rd International Art Exhibition during the Venice Biennale, and the exhibition of the Moscow Kremlin museum's collections. Russia and Italy are developing new exhibition projects supported by the Hermitage-Italy fund, established in 2008 and based in the Italian city of Ferrara, in accordance with the long-term program for partnership between Moscow's Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts and Italy's Cariverona Foundation.
The two countries have been expanding ties between leading theatres and concert halls. Milan's La Scala opera and ballet theatre and Russia's State Academic Bolshoi Theatre actively cooperate with each other, with an agreement for tour exchange programs scheduled through 2010. Performances by renowned Russian classical music conductors and musicians such as Valery Gergiyev, Yury Temirkanov and Yury Bashmet at Italy's best venues have become a crucial part of the country's cultural life. Italian musicians are also actively involved in Russia's theatre and music events. In February 2009, Italian pop tenor and crossover artist Andrea Bocelli gave a performance in Moscow.
Russian-Italian collaboration in cinema has become more lively and diverse as well. In accordance with the agreement on joint cinema production, the two countries completed their first large-scale collaborative effort with the movie, "Dieci Inverni (Ten Winters)", directed by Valerio Mieli, with assistance from Italy's state-run Rai Cinema, film companies Medusa Film and Sky, and Russia's United Films Company. The movie has been successful with both Italian and Russian viewers.
The two countries are attempting to promote reciprocal literary awards, with the Nikolai Gogol and Maxim Gorky awards bestowed to Russian and Italian writers and translators.
Italy and Russia are also working on seeking out and returning cultural artifacts which originated in Russia but later were illegally transported to Italy. Large collections of Russian icons have been returned in the past few years, having been withdrawn from those illegally keeping them by the departments for protecting cultural assets in Italy, the Finance Guard and the Corps of Carabineers. Currently, the two countries are negotiating the return of two groups of icons, one of 86 and the other of 61 items, to Russia.
Educational links have expanded as well. On December 3, 2009, Russia and Italy signed an agreement on the mutual recognition of educational documents during the sixth round of the Russian-Italian interstate consultations in Rome. The two countries are boosting school exchange and university training programs for both Russian and Italian students on the basis of state provided scholarships.
