Mintimer Shaimiev and Grigory Rapota visit the ancient town of Bolgar
15 August 2013, Thursday
On August 15 Tatarstan State Counsellor, Chairman of the Board of guardians of “Revival” Regional Foundation Mintimer Shaimiev and State Secretary of the Union State Grigory Rapota visited the ancient town of Bolgar. Mintimer Shaimiev told about activity of the Foundation on reconstruction of unique historical and cultural monuments.
At first they visited new river station and Museum of Bolgar civilization. Later on, the guests went to see the Memorial that was mounted to commemorate the official adoption of Islam by Volga Bulgars in 922, the Cathedral Mosque, Khan Palace, craft workshops, Doctor’s House, Black and White Chambers, White Mosque and Museum of Bread.
Grigory Rapota was very interested in the history of the ancient town.
“I was so impressed by Bolgar, its rich history and great work that was done here. I did not expect that for such a short period it is possible to perform a large amount of work on reconstructing historical monuments. At the same time, I realised that our knowledge about history is so poor. Here, in Bolgar we see a big historical milestone that is unknown for many people. It is not right, and we have to do our best to let people know about it.”
On May 14, the Kazan Expo International Exhibition Centre hosted a solemn reception marking the opening of the Year “Kazan – Cultural Capital of the Islamic World” and the holding of the XVII International Economic Forum “Russia-the Islamic World: KazanForum”.
Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Marat Khusnullin, Russian Minister of Culture Olga Lyubimova, Director General of the Islamic World, Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) Salim bin Mohammed AlMalik and other officials were among the honored guests of the evening.
On 26 April, during festive events dedicated to the Native Language Day and the 140th birthday of the great Tatar poet Gabdulla Tukay, the Rais (Head) of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov and the State Counselor of the republic Mintimer Shaimiev laid flowers to the monument of the great Tatar poet.
On 17 March, speaking at a meeting of the State Council of the republic, where its Chairman Farid Mukhametshin declared his early termination of powers, Tatarstan State Counselor Mintimer Shaymiev said: “Mutual respect and deep understanding help to preserve high trust of our people.”
On 13 March the Rais (Head) of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov and the State Counselor of the republic Mintimer Shaimiev accompanied by the regional Mufti Kamil Samigullin took part in the XIV Iftar of the republic organized by the Spiritual Board of Muslims of Tatarstan, the administration of the Ak Bars Arena stadium and the national tourist complex Tugan Avylym (My Native Village) at the Kazan Expo Exhibition Center.