The exhibition “The Roerich Pact. History and Modernity” being the next stage of the exhibition project initiated by ICR and IRHPC, opened on April 8, 2014 in the Exhibition Hall of the Arts Palace in the town of Nizhnevartovsk. The exhibition is organized in cooperation with the Surgut Roerich society “The Banner of Peace.” The exhibition is timed to the 140th anniversary of Nicholas Roerich, to the Year of Culture in Russia and to the 60th anniversary of The Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Properties in the Event of Armed Conflict, the foundation for which was laid by the Roerich Pact.

The Nizhnevartovsk audience were shown a fragment of the film “Time to Gather Stones” talking about the content and the significance of the Roerich Pact.

The head of the Nizhnevartovsk Roerich Society “Harmony” Azat Zubaydullin spoke of Nicholas Roerich's understanding of culture. For Roerich, said Mr. Zubaydullin, culture was a mysterious and spiritual notion, so that he even spelled the word “culture” with a capital letter. He also thanked the organizations that extended material help to the exhibition project in Nizhnevartovsk: the Holding Company “Sodruzhestvo” and the Siberian Research and Engineering Institute of Rational Nature Management.

In her address Mrs. Devina, head of the Surgut Roerich Society, mentioned that Roerich expanded the definition of culture and made it the motto of the New Era. She reminded the audience that according to Roerich the laws and treaties protecting culture were impotent if the public did not take active interest in the preservation of cultural properties and did not show initiative in this regard. The Non-governmental Museum of Roerich in Moscow, said Mrs. Devina, was precisely the example of such an initiative by the public. Mrs. Devina also lectured on the history of the Banner of Peace.

After the story of the Banner of Peace the symbolic act of its presentation to the deputy head of the local administration, Mrs. Olga Sazonova, took place. The honour of doing it belonged to Mrs. Natalia Voychenko, Professor, Department of Journalism, Moscow State University of Culture and Arts. Gratefully accepting the Banner of Peace, Mrs. Sazonova remarked that the fact that the Banner was presented in the place with which the very future of Russia is connected (North-Western Siberia) had a great significance. This future, she added, would happen only if it were illumined by the light of Beauty and Culture. Mrs. Sazonova also stressed the importance of the exhibition for the town. She mentioned that it opened new vistas for the development of culture, the preservation and multiplication of spiritual and cultural values.

The evening continued with the programme of the group of solo singers headed by the renowned artiste of the Khanty-Mansiisk district Mrs. Irina Stotskaya.

The evening closed with the tour of the exhibition by Mrs. Natalia Voychenko.

The residents of Nizhnevartovsk expressed their gratitude and appreciation of the event by leaving positive responses and comparing Roerich's art to the “revelation, prayer, stirring of the heart, flight of spirit, tears of happiness and sorrow, pride for the Russian people, bond with the Universe, connection with the past, present and future... a wonderful discovery, wisdom of the ages...”