NM inaugurates Islamic Civilization in Russia Exhibition, Hermitage Corner

Muscat: The National Museum on Thursday inaugurated an exhibition themed “Islamic Civilization in Russia” and the Hermitage Corner under the auspices of Shaikh Abdullah Mohammad al Salmi, Minister of Endowments and Religious Affairs.

The exhibition aims at highlighting the civilizational influences of Islam in Russia, reflecting the Islamic culture through its architectural elements, ornaments, miniature lineco preservation cases of the Holy Quran, amulets, and other rare and precious pieces.

The exhibition also highlights the Crimean Tatar language, which belongs to the Altaic language family with northwestern Turkish roots, which is the largest minority language in the Russian Federation in terms of the number of speakers.

Literary writings and texts in the Tatar language stipulated in the Arabic alphabet in manuscripts, jewelry, and tombstones, are included in this exhibition, before the influence of the “Cyrillic” and then “Latin” alphabets spread. Part of Islam in Russia, during the middle of the seventh century, Islam penetrated the Caucasus region, parts of which were later incorporated permanently into the Russian Empire.

Shaikh Abdullah Mohammad al Salmi, Minister of Endowments and Religious Affairs said, “The Exhibition of Islamic Civilisation in Russia and the Hermitage Corner, which we have witnessed during the inauguration of today are a prominent step, and a valuable movement of the cultural communication between the Sultanate of Oman and the world. The exhibition aims to highlight the masterpieces of Islamic civilisation in Russia. It includes a collection of unique museum artefacts dating back to several centuries, and models of archaeological finds, ornaments and ceramics that come from various Russian regions.”

He added that the inauguration of the Hermitage Corner in the National Museum is a wonderful heritage and tourism step. The Hermitage Museum has a wide fame among museum visitors, with its masterpieces that reflect the historical and cultural heritage of Russia and the various people of the world.

Jamal Hassan al Moosawi, Secretary General of the National Museum, said “The inauguration of the exhibition on Islamic Civilisation in Russia and the Hermitage Corner came within the framework of the close bilateral cooperation between the National Museum and the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and within the context of cultural diplomacy pursued by the National Museum.”

Professor Mikhail Petrovsky, Director General of the Hermitage Museum and a member of the National Museum’s Board of Trustees, said “I am really glad that our cooperation with the National Museum of the Sultanate of Oman is active and multifaceted, including such spheres like the Omani Empire, Catherine the Great, the land of frankincense, Islam in Russia, restoration of Palmyrene reliefs and we have so much to look forward to”.

The cooperation between the National Museum and the Hermitage Museum in the Russian Federation goes back to its roots in the year 2014 when Professor Petrovsky was accepted as a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Museum. In 2015, when a memorandum of understanding was signed in the cultural and museum fields between the two sides during a ceremony that took place at the Hermitage Museum. –ONA