Russia: Central Naval Museum Hosts Maritime Heritage Preservation Conference

Conference of the Russian Maritime Heritage Association was held on March 30 in the new building of Central Naval Museum. The association was established in 2009 and incorporated soul-mates in the area of preservation, research, and popularization of Russia’s maritime heritage. Representatives of 44 marine-related organizations from 5 regions discussed issues of maritime heritage preservation.

The association was founded on March 1, 2009 in St. Petersburg on board museum icebreaker Krasin and is aimed at preservation of Russian maritime heritage for education of young generation. The conference started with opening speech of Svetlana Sivkova, charwoman of the association and director of the World Ocean Museum. She told about results of the three-year long work. Issues of maritime heritage preservation were discussed at the first scientific conference held in 2010. Term “Maritime Heritage” was included into the Russian Federation Marine Activity Development Strategy 2020.

Preservation of maritime history and education of young generation were among subjects discussed at top level, so the great work is in prospect. There are some problems keeping down development of the association and other organizations dealing with publicity of maritime heritage and information activities. One of the most topical problems is imperfection of maritime laws. Director of Central Naval Museum Andrei Lyalin and Executive Secretary of St. Petersburg Marine Council Tatiana Chekalova also attended the conference. After speech of the association’s chairwoman, participants discussed registration of legal entity. As of today, Russian Maritime Heritage Association is a public organization which exists at the expense of membership dues. Presentation of the first issue of The Maritime Heritage magazine was held as well.

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Naval Today Staff , April 04, 2012; Image: saint-petersburg