• Start date:  23.08.2021
• End date:  23.08.2021
• RU:  Круглый стол «Австрия-Россия: историко-культурные встречи»
• DE:  Der Runde Tisch der österreichisch-russischen Historikerkommission „Kultur-historische Begegnungen Österreich-Russland“
• Status: Completed

A round table of the Russian-Austrian Commission of Historians "Austria - Russia: Historical and Cultural Meetings" with the support of the Russian-Austrian Public Forum "Sochi Dialogue" was held On Monday, August 23, 2021.

Guests of honor at the event were: Special Representative of the Federal Minister for European and International Affairs of Austria, Ambassador, Dr. M. Klestil-Loeffler, Co-Chairman of the Sochi Dialogue on the Austrian side, K. Leitl, co-chairman of the Sochi Dialogue on the Russian side A.A. Fursenko, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Austria to the Russian Federation V. Almhofer, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Austria D. E. Lyubinsky as well as the president of the Salzburg Festival, Dr. H. Rabl-Stadler.

As A.A. Fursenko noted in his welcoming speech, this is the fourth Forum event devoted to cultural values this year (It was preceded by roundtables "The Heritage of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and the Russian Empire in the Countries of Central and Eastern Europe," "Protection of Cultural Values: the Russian-Austrian Cooperation Space" and "The Power of Art - Particularly in Times of Crisis"), which "shows that the Russian-Austrian cultural dialogue is in high demand ".

Russian Ambassador to Austria D.E. Lyubinsky noted that "cooperation in the cultural sphere is a kind of "positive constant" throughout the whole period of Russian-Austrian relations".

The reports on various aspects of the history of interaction and interpenetration of cultures of Russia and Austria were presented during the historical and cultural meeting.

Dr. H. Rabl-Stadler, President of the Salzburg Festival, spoke about the centennial experience of the festival's artistic cooperation with Russia and regarded culture as a political and peacemaking factor of identity.

Associate Professor, Candidate of Art History, Vice-Rector of the Siberian State Institute of Arts named after Dmitry Khvorostovsky S. G. Voytkevich made a presentation "Pushkin and Mozart: two geniuses, two worlds, two "new evidence systems", in which she compared two geniuses who became "aesthetic figures" for many generations, as well as their influence on art. The speaker particularly noted that this was the first participation of the Siberian State Institute of Arts in the Forum event, and the participants of the meeting expressed hope for further scientific and cultural cooperation with representatives of such a large region with valuable and interesting culture.

Professor, Doctor of Philology, Head of the Department of the Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia A. I. Zherebin spoke about the Austrian model of modernism, its characteristics and influence on various spheres of public life, including culture and art.

Co-chair of the Russian-Austrian Commission of Historians, member of the Coordinating Committee of the Russian-Austrian Public Forum "Sochi Dialogue", Professor S. Karner spoke about the famous Austrian modernist poet Rainer Maria Rilke and his visit to Russia, which he later called his homeland. The poet was absolutely in love with Russian culture, became fluent in the Russian language, and was in correspondence with Pasternak, Tsvetaeva,Tolstoy, Alexander Benois and Spiridon Drozhzhzhin.

Famous sculptor V. I. Kosmachev told about his "Russian-Austrian life story", about his difficult way of becoming an artist and his most interesting works.

Historian, independent researcher, correspondent of the Historical Commission of the Federal State of Styria, Dr. G. Allmer spoke about the Red Army's rescue of Styrian cultural treasures in Herberstein Castle in 1945. This led the audience to an important part of the event - the introduction of a new book by Mr. Karner and Mrs. Stelzl-Marx "Sigismund Herberstein, Moscovia: A Journey to Moscow". Significance and Heritage. A presentation of this book is planned at one of the next meetings of the Russian-Austrian Commission of Historians in Moscow.

At the end of the session the co-chairmen of the Russian-Austrian Commission of Historians, Professor S. Karner and Professor A. O. Chubarian made a closing speech in which they noted that "the presented reports lay down a further perspective in comparing the cultural values of our two countries," which is undoubtedly an important task for the development of the dialogue between Russia and Austria.