Tural Kerimov: We will keep supporting the traditional Russian folk crafts

The Board of Trustees of the All-Russian Decorative Art Museum met to sum up the results of the current year and discuss the topical issues of development for 2024.

The meeting was chaired by Sergey Stepashin Chairman of the Board of Trustees, President of the Russian Book Union (RBU) and Chairman of the Board of the Russian Book Union.
The attendants listened to the report of Elena Titova, the Director of the All-Russian Decorative Art Museum, on the priority projects of the museum in 2024-2025, the scaling of cooperation, the reconstruction of the museum territory and other important issues.

The discussion was attended by Chairman of the Board of Directors of NaftaGaz Tural Kerimov, Vice President of the Russian International Affairs Council Mikhail Margelov, Commissioner for the Protection of the Rights of Entrepreneurs of Moscow under the Government of Moscow Tatyana Mineeva, President of the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vladimir Platonov and Founder of the Development Fund “Life of Abrau-Durso” Boris Titov.

Tural Kerimov pointed out the serious work that the museum's management has carried out this year to attract partners to implement the plans, which made it possible to open new museum spaces, hold conceptual exhibitions not only in Moscow, but also in the regions of Russia (Blagoveshchensk, Tula, Belgorod, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Novosibirsk, etc.).

NaftaGaz and the museum have been cooperating since 2021. During this period, the oilfield service company has acted as a partner in three projects:

2021 - “Dagestan. The Land of Mountains and Skilled Craftsmen” (exhibition timed to the 100th anniversary of the formation of the Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (DASSR) – 2021)

2022 - product design competition “Invented and Made in Russia” which resulted in the Biennale of 215 best works (2022 - 2023).

2023 - creation of the first exposition of Russian design of the 20th - 21st centuries in Russia “The Thing! Re/Construction” which includes iconic objects of Soviet designers from the birth of VHUTEMAS school in 1920 to the experimental works of contemporary object designers.

“Our company has chosen as a priority to support cultural initiatives aimed at preserving the ancestral traditions of the indigenous peoples of our country and continuing these traditions in the work of contemporary artists. We consider it absolutely important to remember our origins and develop all the best that our ancestors passed on to us. Therefore, the projects that Elena Viktorovna Titova and her colleagues presented at the Board of Trustees as plans for the next year definitely deserve comprehensive support,” Tural Kerimov emphasized.

As a result of the meeting, the Board members supported new projects and exhibitions of the museum and came forth with a number of recommendations for improving further work.

Founded in 1981, the All-Russian Decorative Art Museum has brought together works of decorative art of the 17th-21st centuries in its collections. The museum is located in the center of Moscow in a complex of buildings which is an architectural monument of the XVIII-XX centuries, known as the “Count Ostermann House”. The collection includes more than 250 thousand exhibits including works by folk craftsmen and works by modern authors, visual materials on the history of artistic crafts, a collection of rare books and manuscripts.