On March 4, 2016 the extraordinary General Assembly of the International Centre of the Roerichs, held in Moscow at the non-governmental Museum named after Nicholas Roerich, elected Yuri H. Temirkanov – the artistic director of the St. Petersburg Academic Philharmonic named after D.D. Shostakovich, Chief Conductor of the Honoured Collective of the Russian Academic Philharmonic Orchestra – as the President of the International Centre of the Roerichs.

The members and the staff of the International Centre of the Roerichs (ICR) express cordially their gratitude to Maestro Yuri Temirkanov for giving his consent to become the president of the ICR. For us it is a great honour that the head of our organization will be an Outstanding Worker of Art whose services to the national and world culture have been honourably marked with the highest awards.

The inspired creative work and the highest mastery of Maestro Yuri Temirkanov are in harmony with the public activity aimed at the preservation of the cultural heritage of Russia and are a worthy example of selfless service to the Motherland. "Without culture a country has no future" – these words of Yuri Temirkanov exactly express the credo of the Roerichs themselves, whose multifaceted heritage is being carefully preserved, studied and popularized at the International Centre of the Roerichs.

In our tense and challenging time when the world is being shaken by destruction and degradation, it is only the Light of Culture that can appease our hearts, bring peace and direct the minds of people towards creativity. In one of his interviews Yuri Temirkanov said: "Culture is the anchor that keeps humanity" from falling into a definitive world catastrophe.

We deeply appreciate that Yuri Temirkanov – despite his extremely busy agenda and intense creative work, despite the complex situation in Russia and the difficult situation of the International Centre of the Roerichs – readily accepted our proposal and stretched out to us his hand of support. This brave step inspires us with confidence that owing to his support we shall stand up for the implementation of the will of Svetoslav Roerich and the lifetime achievement of Lyudmila V. Shaposhnikova – and we shall therefore not allow the annihilation of the non-governmental Museum named after Nicholas Roerich of the International Centre of the Roerichs.

Information

The International Centre of the Roerichs (ICR), is a well-known Russian non-governmental organization which cooperates with the UN, UNESCO as well as other prominent international organizations in the field of the preservation of the world cultural heritage on the basis of the fundamental peacekeeping idea of Nicholas Roerich about "Peace through Culture”. (http://www.icr.su/rus/news/icr/Pact_project.php).

It has branches in Russia, Latvia, Belarus, Ukraine and Bulgaria.

The ICR has as its basic structure the non-governmental Museum named after Nicholas Roerich which was established in Moscow in accordance with the will of Svetoslav Roerich – the younger son of the great Russian artist Nicholas Roerich. Upon the decision of the USSR leadership the non-governmental Museum was housed in the centuries-old Lopoukhin Mansion (Maly Znamensky lane 3/5, Moscow). Svetoslav Roerich handed over to the ICR his parents heritage with the purpose of establishing the non-governmental museum, the heritage includes hundreds of masterpieces of his father, a priceless archive of the Roerich family and other rarities.

The International Centre of the Roerichs under the leadership of Lyudmila Shaposhnikova – who was entrusted by Svetoslav Roerich to be the executor of his will – and owing to donations from the wide public and Maecenas established one of the most important in Russia non-governmental museums with the largest art collection of the Roerichs’ paintings.