Participation of St.Petersburg in the program of the Cross-Year Russia–Spain was very active, as was noted at the highest level and in the media.
Participation of St.Petersburg in the program of the Cross-Year Russia–Spain was very active, as was noted at the highest level and in the media.
St.Petersburg hosted the most important public event of the Year – the official opening of the Year by Russian President D.A.Medvedev and King Juan Carlos I and the exhibition of masterpieces of the Prado Museum in the State Hermitage Museum; participation of the Spanish delegation led by Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Prime Minister of Spain, in St.Petersburg International Economic Forum; a meeting of business circles of Russia and Spain.
By the beginning of the Year of Russia–Spain, awarding the honorary doctorate degree of the St.Petersburg Humanitarian University was timed, which was bestowed on Miguel Angel Moratinos, an eminent diplomat, ex-Minister for Foreign Affairs of Spain.
Petersburg part of the program was presented by the projects implemented during the Year by the organizations and agencies of the federal and city level in collaboration with Spanish partners. The events were held in St.Petersburg and in Spain and covered almost all areas – economy, education, science, culture. In total, about 200 various events took place.
The main events were: joint projects of the State Hermitage Museum and the Prado Museum, the Spanish Evenings at the Mariinsky Theatre; new ballets of the famous Spanish choreographer Nacho Duato, who headed the ballet troupe at the Mikhailovskiy Theatre; performance of the famous boys’ choir of the monastery of Montserrat in the Grand Hall of the St.Petersburg Philharmonia named after D.D.Shostakovich; presentation of Spanish literature at the VI St.Petersburg International Book Fair, Festival of New Spanish Cinema; exhibitions of medieval maps and Spanish political posters at the Russian National Library; an exhibition on the Silk Route from the Russian Museum of Ethnography at the Museum of Ethnology in Valencia; a photo exhibition on the Mediterranean in the Central Exhibition Hall «Manege».
Active support for the program was rendered by the Consulate General of Spain in St.Petersburg.
During the year, the events were held related to scientific and educational contacts of St.Petersburg and Spain, the main of which were the international colloquium «Think Spanish» at the Institute of Russian Literature «Pushkin House», the scientific and practical conference on teaching the Spanish language at the State Paedagogical University named after A.I.Herzen; signing of an agreement on cooperation in the area of engineering education and high technology between Polytechnic Universities of St.Petersburg and Madrid.
In May, the Committee for Culture, along with the Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House) and the Pushkin Foundation of Madrid, organized a cultural action «The Image of Spain in Russia. The Image of Russia in Spain» in Madrid.
Great interest of the residents of St.Petersburg was raised the activities organized by the Center for Spanish Language and Culture «Adelante» during the Year: creative meetings with Spanish writers, poets, and journalists; concerts of classical music; film demonstrations, exhibitions, contest of photographers, seminars for teachers of Spanish with the leading Spanish publishers.
In March of 2011, a delegation of twin city of Barcelona visited St.Petersburg. During the talks, an agreement was reached to develop a program of cooperation between the cities in the years to come, in various areas of arranging the life in modern cities. At the end of September of 2011, the creative groups of St.Petersburg (St.Petersburg Grand State Circus, Theatre «Litsedei», theater of hands’ plastics «Hand Made», folklore ensemble «Barynya») participated in the festival «La Merce» in Barcelona, where St.Petersburg was invited as a guest city within the confines of the Cross-Year of Russia–Spain.
Information Agency «Rosbalt» released a collection of «Nevsky–Rambla: a Movement Towards» devoted to the Spaniards in St.Petersburg and the Russian people in Barcelona.
News source: St.Petersburg Committee for External Relations