Russian Cultural Center reopens on 29 May Street in Damascus

In the presence of a number of ministers, ambassadors, members of the People’s Assembly and the diplomatic corps, the  Russian Cultural Center in Damascus held a celebration on Thursday evening on the occasion of its reopening  . 

Director of the Russian Cultural Center in Damascus Nikolay Sukhov said reopening the center came  after a comprehensive restoration and modernization of all the center’s equipment in line with modern scientific developments.

He stressed that the center mainly aims to teach Syrian children and adults the Russian language, dance and various types of plastic arts.

Sukhov  pointed to the importance of the center’s presence in the center of the city of Damascus, and its key  role in education and voluntary humanitarian work including  the collection and distribution of humanitarian aid, in addition to being a center of scientific research, holding workshops and symposiums  in various scientific aspects, and the visits of Russian scientists to Syria.

In turn, Minister of Culture, Dr. Loubana  Mushaweh  pointed to the great role of  the Russian Cultural Center in the Syrian cultural and social life  in Syria over the past 65 years.

She added that its reopening aims to expand the activities of the center as it was a platform to introduce  the common features of peoples.

The culture minister  drew attention to the flourishing of Russian-Syrian cultural relations for the benefit of the two friendly countries, indicating that the Russian Cultural Center has enriched the cultural movement in Damascus over the past 50 years.

She referred to its activities during the terrorist war on Syria   despite all the difficulties including movies , shows , lectures , exhibitions and teaching languages.

On the sidelines of the reopening, the center held a book fair that included more than 2,000 book titles translated from the Russian language including cultural and scientific topics  , in addition to publications dedicated to children in the Russian language and international literature publications, according to Dr. Reslan  Alaa Eddin  the director of the exhibition.

In order to introduce the ancient Russian art, the reopening ceremony of the center also included an exhibition of pictures by  the Russian artist Ositogovilia Andervinia, who specializes in historical and folk painting, and her artworks  were displayed  in many places around the world .

It is worth mentioning that the Russian cultural center  has been considered a club for all Syrian literary and artistic personalities since the late sixties.

It  received senior Syrian writers and poets such as Hanna Mina, Colette Khoury, Badawi Al-Jabal, and Nizar Qabbani. The most famous person who visited the center was the first Soviet space lady, Valentina Tereshkova.

The Russian Cultural Center and the Federal Agency for International and Humanitarian Cooperation honored the oldest employee of the Russian Cultural Center, Nasser Najma, with the Medal of Honor of the Russian Federal Agency.

Rawaa  Ghanam