On 11 October 2019, the Hermitage Theatre was the venue for the 19th International Theoretical and Practical Conference “The Roerich Legacy” and the awards ceremony for the recipients of the International Nicholas Roerich Prize in 2019.
The plenary session was devoted to Nicholas (Nikolai Konstatinovich) Roerich and Russian artistic culture. The conference was followed by the awards ceremony. Those attending were welcomed by Konstantin Sukhenko, Chairman of the Saint Petersburg Committee for Culture. On behalf of the State Hermitage, the awards were presented by Alexander Prokhorenko, Deputy General Director of the museum.
The recipients in 2019 were: Mikhail Glinka, prose writer and columnist (in the Artistic Creativity category); Boris Stolyarov, head of the Russian Centre of the Museum Pedagogy and Children’s Creativity (a department of the Russian Museum), Honoured Culture Worker of the Russian Federation (Teaching and Public Education); Mikhail Sharomazov, General Director of the Kirillo-Belozersky History, Architecture and Art Museum Preserve (Preservation of Cultural Assets and Peace-Making); Vladimir
Nadezhin, President of the Delphis charitable foundation for the preservation and development of cultural assets (Preservation of the Roerich
Legacy); and Lokesh Chandra, Director of the International Academy of Indian Culture, Academician, India (Formation of the Cultural Image of a
Country in the World).
A memorable conclusion to the conference was provided by a performance on the stage of the Hermitage Theatre based on Nicholas Roerich’s mystery play Charity.
The conference was organized by the State Hermitage, Saint Petersburg State Museum and Institute of the Roerich Family, Saint Petersburg State University and the Roerich Family House Museum in Ulan Bator, with the support and participation of the Saint Petersburg Committee for Culture, the Worldwide Club of Petersburgers, the Nicholas Roerich Museum in New York and the Roerich Legacy international charitable foundation.