The first meeting in the series of literary and musical evenings titled “Literary Salon: Ambassadors of Russian Culture” for foreign diplomatic corps accredited in the Russian Federation was held at the House of Reception of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.
Dedicated to the 220th anniversary of the birth of poet and diplomat Fyodor Tyutchev, the event was opened by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov.
“In the period of international turbulence, with a hybrid war launched against us and Russophobia becoming commonplace in the ruling circles of Western countries, this initiative undeniably deserves our full support.
It is highly symbolic that today's event is dedicated to the great Russian poet and diplomat, Fyodor Tyutchev. This year, we celebrate his 220th birth anniversary. Along with many of the most acclaimed Russian men of letters such as Alexander Pushkin, Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky, Fyodor Tyutchev made a tremendous contribution to elevating literature to a global scale. For all of us who serve our Motherland, it is especially gratifying that Tyutchev also successfully worked in foreign affairs for many years and was personally involved in defending Russia's interests in the international arena,” said Mr. Lavrov.
The Foreign Minister also quoted lines from a letter written by Fyodor Tyutchev to his wife.
“Imagine as if this was written yesterday, ‘It has long been possible to foresee that this mad hatred, which has been mongered in the West against Russia for thirty years, getting stronger and stronger every year, will someday break loose. This moment has arrived. Russia was essentially offered suicide, being expected to renounce the very foundations of its being and admit, hand on its heart, to being nothing but a wild and ugly phenomenon that needs to be corrected. There is nothing more to deceive oneself about. Russia will, in all probability, enter into battle with the whole of Europe.’
This was written in 1854, just a couple of years before the Crimean War. But if we put aside the dates and anniversaries, it is quite applicable to what the West is doing with respect to our homeland today. This is not paranoia. Fyodor Tyutchev was not paranoid. He was a shrewd diplomat and, by and large, a statesman.
Therefore, everything that we are doing today, what our President, the Russian army, society, and the state are doing is aimed at ensuring that all these plans, which he wrote about almost 200 years ago, never materialize. His legacy is one of the symbols that inspire us to always stand up for our truth.” You can read the full text of the Minister's opening remarks.
Mikhail Shvydkoy, Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation on International Cultural Cooperation, addressed the guests of the evening.
“Today's evening is very important for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as for the Museum of Literature, but first of all it is important for literature, which is the best way to know another person,” said Mikhail Shvydkoy, pointing out that the descendants of Leo Tolstov, Mikhail Sholokhov are present in the room, which only raises the level of the event's significance.
The host of the evening was a literary scholar, director of the Vladimir Dahl State Museum of History of Russian Literature Dmitry Bak, who spoke about the personality and creative path of Fyodor Tyutchev.
The State Literary Museum organized an exhibition specially for this evening, which included items from the museum's collection, as well as invaluable documents from the Foreign Policy Archive of the Russian Federation, concerning the poet's diplomatic service. The exhibition also presented a bust of Fyodor Tyutchev, created by sculptor Grigory Pototsky. The evening also featured an artistic reading of the poems “To the portrait of the State Chancellor, Prince A.M. Gorchakov” and “O my prophetic soul”, and opera singer Yulia Korneva performed romances based on poet's poems.
The Literary Salon: Ambassadors of Russian Culture cultural and educational project is organized by the Main Administration for Service to the Diplomatic Corps and the Vladimir Dal State Museum of History of Russian Literature.
The project is intended to introduce foreign diplomatic corps to the creative heritage of Russian writers, to demonstrate the beauty and richness of the Russian language, to expand cultural and humanitarian connections. The title of the series refers to the educational efforts of Ivan Turgenev, whom contemporaries called an ambassador of Russian culture for his work in introducing Western intellectuals to the Russian culture.