65th Great Victory Anniversary: The National Library of Russia opens “Dear allies…”

On April, 13 at 5 p.m. the exhibition entitled “Dear allies…”, initiated  within the framework of the project “World against fascism”, kicked off in the main building of the National Library of Russia (NLR) (18, Sadovaya St.) in the Korf hall.

For the first time the British Society for Russian and Soviet Union Studies has mounted a photo exhibition “British-Soviet cultural relations during 1941-1948”, which represented 25 annotated photographs from the society’s archive. The exhibition also unveiled a copy of the Scottish Album with letters of Scottish women, who supported residents of Leningrad in heroic days of the siege, from the holdings of the Museum of city’s history. The presentation was brought to an end with a video dedicated to the opening of the memorial in the center of London.  The Memorial, initiated by the Society in 1999, was erected in remembrance of 27 million Soviet soldiers and citizens, who had perished during the Great Patriotic War.

The exhibition, which kicked off in the NLR also released books, maps, encyclopedias, and prints from the holdings of the NLR, which turned spotlight on establishment of the World War II allies.

The opening ceremony was attended by the Society’s delegation headed by the executive secretary Ms Jin Turner.

Welcome addresses were delivered by the Director General of the National Library of Russia - Vladimir N. Zaitsev, Consul General of the Consulate General of the Great Britain in Saint – Petersburg - William Elliott, Chairman of the Association for Relations with Great Britain Leonid I. Seleznev.

The exhibition, which took place within the framework of the project “World against fascism”, was organized by the National Library of Russia jointly with the Association of International Cooperation with a support of the Committee on External Relations, the Consulate General of the Great Britain in Saint - Petersburg, the State Museum of History of St. Petersburg and the British Society for Russian Studies.