The Russian Museum of Ethnography is hosting a two-week cultural event which includes an exhibition of Slavic and Central Asian textile arts followed by an international conference on the same theme. The event ends on Sunday, June 4.
The International "White Nights Symposium," which is a part of a larger European Council program, "The Great Silk Road," will start on May 30, following the exhibition, which ends on that date. The symposium will draw 150 participants from the Federal Ministry of Culture, the mayor's office, art academic institutions and the European Council of Cultural Tours.
The "Great Silk Road" is a scientific, art and educational program initiated by the European Council with the aim of including Russian specialists and themes in the broader European cultural scheme.
Apart from the museum, the symposium's organizers include the "Textile-Design" Association, the Mukhina State Industrial Arts Academy, the State University of Technology and Design and the Strasbourg European Council of Cultural Tours.
The textile exhibition focuses on the textile cultural heritage of Central Asian and Slavic craftsmen during the latter part of the last century and the beginning of this century.
Slavic cultural experts believe that these textile ornaments and patterns reflect the traditional values of those peoples who lived throughout the Slavic lands and Central Asian territories during this time.
This art had been largely forgotten until this exhibition, where it is now being seen only for the second time in the 50 years since it came into the museum's collection.
By studying their textiles, local crafts and ritual tools, we can find out more about how these Slavic peoples lived -- the cultural and social values that were important to those who lived along the River Volga, in Belarus, the Urals, the Far East and Central Asia.
According to museum expert Alexander Alaverdov, the textile ornaments reflected the creators' attitudes and the ways they understood the surrounding world.
Mr Alaverdov said ornamental textiles were depicted in different ways -- in the form of ready-made clothes, patterned pieces and scraps woven from a mixture of multicolored threads -- to form a collection of dress for both ceremonial and day-to-day use.
"Ornament, Myth and Structure" is the title for another part of the exhibition, which according to museum organizers is a self-styled experiment explaining the process in which ornaments appear, their development and how they are used to create a certain image.
This is clearly demonstrated by the collection of Slavic belts and towels, which were believed to have played a large role in Slavic rituals.
The Russian Museum of Ethnography has the world's largest collection of Slavic ethnic textiles.
Another part of the exhibition is devoted to patterned cloth which demonstrates the Russian national traditional of knitting from the 19th century to modern times. Most of the textiles and ornaments comprise unique artifacts that only belonged to Russians.