November 19, 2024. Opening of the exhibition “From the heavenly book the list is given…”______________ ______________ _____________
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On November 19, 2024, the Bolgar Museum-Reserve hosted the opening of the exhibition “From the heavenly book the list is given…” timed to the 225th anniversary of the birth of Alexander Pushkin and the 200th anniversary of the creation of his lyrical cycle “Imitations of the Koran”.
The exhibition is a synthesis of museum, library and calligraphic interpretation of Pushkin’s text. In advance, connoisseurs of the canons of Islam divided Pushkin’s work into 33 parts, on which 11 calligraphers worked. Thus, each of the artists executed three pieces, creating 33 artistic compositions, the work on which lasted for a year and a half. The unifying factors for all the works were: the format of the calligraphic sheet and the use of handmade ebru paper; the method of lettering – English italics, which corresponds to the spirit of the era and the lightness of Pushkin’s poetry. The calligraphers got acquainted with historical handwritten italics of the late 19th – early 20th centuries found in the collections of the Russian National Library. Some of them formed the basis of the italics used to write the poet’s lines in calligraphic sheets. All the works have volumetric structures, elements and layers that create multidimensionality, consonant with the depth of Pushkin’s text inspired by the Koran. It was important for the masters of calligraphy to observe these conditions to show the principle of unity while preserving the original style of each artist in the broad sense of the word.
The funds of the “Pushkin Library-Reading Room”, the first director of which was the poet’s eldest daughter Maria Alexandrovna Gartung-Pushkina (1832-1919), is represented at the exhibition by rare editions dated XIX-XX centuries, as well as editions that contain reflections caused by the lyrical cycle of the poet and his work in general.
The exposition is supplemented by unique exhibits from the funds of the Bolgar Museum-Reserve: Qurans, a handwritten list of Kul Gali’s poem “The Tale of Yusuf” written during a trip to the Bulgar state, a Quran in Finnish, miniature Qurans and items related to Muslim culture.
The city of Bolgar has been the center of Islam in the Middle Volga region since antiquity. It was here in 922 that Islam was adopted as the state religion of Volga Bulgaria. The monuments of Muslim architecture of XIII-XIV centuries have survived in Bolgar, which the poet A. S. Pushkin visited on September 9, 1833. According to historians, the main purpose of his stay here was to see the ruins of the ancient city, which he learned about while in Kazan. It is noteworthy that 200 years later, a descendant of Pushkin on the line of his eldest son Alexander Alexandrovich Pushkin (1831-1914), the artist Nikolai Danilevsky also turned to the theme of the Koran, creating the painting “Memesis”. The master’s subtle vision formed a kind of bridge between the past and the future, paying tribute to his great ancestor on Bolgar soil.
The author of the idea and head of the creative project – A. B. Rakhmatulina, Honored Worker of Culture of the Republic of Tatarstan. Art director – Peter Chobitko.
Pushkin’s descendants on the line of the poet’s eldest son, A.A. Pushkin, attended the exhibition opening: Andrey Alexandrovich Kologrivov, experimental physicist, senior researcher at the Russian Academy of Sciences; Olga Alexandrovna Buneeva, candidate of biological sciences; Elena Andreyevna Kologrivova, economist who is studying her family tree.
Director of the Cultural and Educational Center “Art of Living” A. R. Akhmetshina donated to the Bolgar Museum-Reserve an Arabic ornament (Table VI from the book by P.P. Gnedich “History of Art”, 1897). From the Nugaybekov family, a casket “Crescent with a Star”, late XIX century, was donated to the Museum-Reserve. А. A. Kologrivov from the family presented a book of genealogy of the Kologrivovs.
In honor of the exhibition opening, the Bolgar Museum-Reserve received congratulations and greetings from the artistic director of the calligraphy art center “From Az to Izhitsa” Chobitko P. P.; from the Director of the State Museum “St. Isaac’s Cathedral” Y. V. Mudrov; from Doctor of Philological Sciences, member of the Presidential Council for the implementation of state policy in the sphere of support of the Russian language and languages of peoples Zamaletdinov Radif.
In the course of the event, a Cooperation Agreement was signed between the State Budgetary Cultural Institution of Moscow “Pushkin Library-Reading Room” and the Bolgar State Historical-Architectural Museum-Reserve. The parties agreed to cooperate and create favorable conditions for mutually beneficial cooperation in the field of museum business.
The organizers of the exhibition: the Bolgar Museum-Reserve, the Calligraphy Art Center “From Az to Izhitsa”, “Pushkin Library-Reading Room”, Academic Lyceum named after N.I. Lobachevski, “Art of Living” Cultural and Educational Center.
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