Russia culture minister Vladimir Medinsky visits ancient Bolgar

Russia Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky and Tatarstan State Counsellor and Revival Foundation board of trustees chairman Mintimer Shaimiev have today visited the ancient town of Bolgar. Along with them, aide to President of Tatarstan for social affairs Tatiana Larionova, culture minister Airat Sibagatullin and other officials came to the reserve. The delegates visited a River Station under construction, Memorial Sign, dedicated to the official adoption of Islam in 922, where the world’s biggest printed Koran is kept, one of the mausoleums, Healer’s House, Cathedral Mosque and Museum of Bread.

M. Shaimiev, while showing the display Town of Bolgar Through the Eyes of Artists, noted that “we have history written in a way as if the nations have only fought each other, nothing else”, while one of the pictures revealed that neighbouring peoples had helped each other.

Vladimir Medinsky, while asking questions and telling about certain historical facts, took pictures of the views with his mobile phone camera.

V. Medinsky wrote in the book of distinguished guests: “With sincere gratitude to the scholars, historians, philologists, culture workers and personally Mintimer Sharipovich Shaimiev for his noble work, to conserve and revive Russia’s cultural heritage”.

“We are only in the beginning of our way but much has been done,” Kazan Federal University’s Institute of History director Ramil Khairutdinov said, while explaining the purpose of the exhibits to the Russian culture minister.

Vladimir Medinsky arrived in Kazan on Thursday on a two-day working visit.