An exhibition in Italy to celebrate the 200th jubilee of Dostoevsky’s birth

Last week, the exhibition “Russia and Europe on the Destiny and Creativity of Dostoevsky (1821-1881)” opened in Milan, Italy, which was held on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the birth of the world-famous Russian writer.

The concert, presented by the laureates of the International “Tchaikovsky” Musical Prize, was also held. These two events were held within the framework of the “Year of Museums, Russia – Italy” festival on September 30 in Italy, in the presence of the Russian and Italian Ministers of Culture, Olga Lyubimova and Dario Franceschini.

In a speech at the opening ceremony of the exhibition, the Russian Consul General in Milan, Dmitriy Stodin, indicated that Dostoevsky visited Italy 3 times, but he did not meet the well-known Italian writer, Alessandro Mandzoni, whose exhibits are spread in his museum in Milan.
The Russian diplomat recalled that Fyodor Dostoevsky was well known in Italy, and his works were included in the high school programme. He added that the process of cultural exchanges between Russia and Italy was not interrupted even during the outbreak of the coronavirus epidemic.

It is noteworthy that the “Dal” State Museum of the History of Russian Literature presented its exhibits to the Milan Museum, including the personal belongings of the Russian writer, rare photographs and drawings included in his books.

Director of the Russian Museum, Dmitry Bak, said that the museum’s many exhibits had not previously been shown in Europe and expressed his conviction that the Italian “Mandzoni” Museum and the Russian “Dal” Museum of Literary History will present more joint cultural and literary projects in the future.

In connection with the concert, pianist Alexei Melnikov, violinist Sergey Dugadin, cellist Alexander Ram and opera singer Maria Barakova presented last Wednesday evening works of Russian and foreign composers at the Auditorium di Milano Fondazione Cariplo. The evening program included the compositions of Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Sergey Rachmaninov, Nikolai Listov and Camille Saint-Saens.