On August 30, 2017, during the UK-Russia Cross Year of Science and Education, the Science Museum in London will host a ceremonial unveiling of a bronze bust of Yuri Gagarin. The bust was donated to the people of Great Britain by the Dialogue of Cultures Foundation United World" on the initiative and with the support of the Governor of the Kaluga Region and Rossotrudnichestvo. The ceremony will be held as part of the Science Museum Lates Program, dedicated to space exploration.
At the opening of the bust, Ian Blatchford, Director of the Science Museum, and Ruslan Bayramov, President of the Dialogue of Cultures – United World Foundation, will deliver welcoming remarks. The ceremony will be held in the presence of Chargé d'Affaires of the Russian Embassy in the UK Alexander Mikhailovich Kramarenko, Minister of Culture and Tourism of the Kaluga Region Pavel Alexandrovich Suslov, Head of the Rossotrudnichestvo Representative Office in the UK Anton Alexandrovich Chesnokov, Director of the Tsiolkovsky Museum in the Kaluga Region Natalia Alekseyevna Abakumova and other distinguished guests.
"The Foundation has long been working to establish intercultural ties between Russia and Great Britain. 10 years ago we erected a monument to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson near the British Embassy in Moscow, in 2013, in the presence of Prince Michael of Kent, we laid the first stone in the construction of the Great Britain and Ireland ethno-court in the ETHNOMIR Park, and now we are opening a bust of Gagarin in London. The original idea of installing the bust in the London Science Museum belongs to Anatoly Dmitrievich Artamonov, Governor of the Kaluga Region. And we, of course, were pleased to continue our mission and take another step towards strengthening diplomatic and friendly relations between our countries, to promote the popularization of Russian space," says the President of the Foundation, Ruslan Bayramov.
The Science Museum was founded in 1857 during the reign of Queen Victoria. Today it is a unique museum complex that has collected all the scientific, technical and medical achievements of mankind from all over the world. Currently, the Science Museum funds number more than 300 thousand exhibits. The bust of Yuri Gagarin will be installed in the Exploring space gallery, where there is an information panel dedicated to the great cosmonaut. The gallery is filled with exhibits that tell the history of human space exploration. Some exhibits clearly show how important these discoveries are, especially for modern telecommunications.
The bust of Yuri Gagarin in Great Britain will be the thirty-ninth installed by the Dialogue of Cultures – United World Foundation worldwide. The Foundation is engaged in the development of friendly humanitarian ties between countries. The Foundation’s international activities currently include 50 countries, in which more than 500 projects have been implemented. One of the striking examples is the cultural and educational tourist center ETHNOMIR.
Source: tourprom.ru
