Mintimer Shaimiev: It is time for responsibility

On January 14, Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov, State Counsellor of the republic Mintimer Shaimiev, Head of Department of State Protection of Cultural Heritage of Russian Ministry of Culture Roman Rybalo, Head of the Committee Ivan Guschin and other officials took part in a summing up meeting of the regional Committee for the Protection of Cultural Heritage Sites, which considered the work done in the republic on the preservation, use, promotion and state protection of cultural heritage sites in 2018 and set tasks for 2019.

Guschin made a keynote report on the achievements and tasks of the Committee on the protection of cultural heritage.

State Counsellor and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Revival Regional Foundation Mintimer Shaimiev noted that it is necessary to start concrete work based on the wishes, decisions and concern to protect the cultural heritage.

“Today we are talking mainly about local sites. We should understand that local governments, where these sites are located, should be responsible for their protection and use, make plans for managing them, keep them, and then these monuments will play a huge educational role. This is the task of local governments at any level. If we invest, we take care and people like it, then we should be responsible for our heritage in broad terms. Next we need to keep a report for their safety. The time for responsibility that disciplines us and makes everyone better has come,” Shaimiev noted.

Minnikhanov said that the work on the preservation of the historical and architectural heritage began during the preparation and holding of the 1000th anniversary of Kazan. Later on, the Revival Foundation was established and a great deal of work has been done, in particular, the restoration of the most important sites and the inscription of the sites into the UNESCO World Heritage List, all of this due to the work of many entities, specialists, archaeologists, historians and restorers. I think that it is hard work, Minnikhanov said.

He supported Ivan Guschin’s proposal to establish the Centre for Studies of Wooden Architecture.

According to him, it should be a whole cluster, which includes the Kazan State University of Architecture and Engineering, resource centres, construction colleges and other structures, where the necessary specialists are trained and there are methods of the preservation and research of wooden architecture.