Ancient icons, books, a samovar and a Zinger typewriter: customs added to the exposition of the Kazan Kremlin

Valuable items have been seized from 2004 to 2010 when attempting to smuggle out of Russia.

(KZN.RU, April 24, Alena Miroshnichenko). Today, 10 items of cultural value have been transferred to the Kazan Kremlin State Historical-Architectural and Art reserve-museum for permanent storage. There were an icon created at the end of the XVII - beginning of the XVIII centuries, a book in the Old Tatar language of the late XVIII century, a copper coin of the Russian empire of 5 kopeks in 1793, the holy Quran, published in Kazan at the beginning of the XX century, and others. All items were withdrawn by the Tatarstan, Orenburg and Samara customs when illegally transported across the border of the Russian Federation. The transfer process took place today with the participation of representatives of local media.

Gleb Petukhov, the head of the Department of the Ministry of Culture of the Volga Federal District, told reporters that after confiscating items at customs, they passed an expert assessment and were recognized as a cultural value. “We seize many more items, but not all of them are cultural values. I am proud of my colleagues that thanks to their work at identifying and confiscating items the exhibits will find a second life and serve the people in the museum”, said Mirzanur Garaev, the head of the Airport-Kazan customs post of the Tatarstan Customs.

Leila Fazleeva, the deputy prime minister of the RT, also took part in the event. She thanked her colleagues from the Ministry of Culture of the RF and the customs service. “We are responsible for the history of the generations that lived before us. The subjects will tell about the religious content of the past life and everyday life. The transfer process was not easy. The exhibits have gone through a rather complicated and long way”, she said.

“For the museum, replenishment of the fund is always a joyous event. It is very important that these things were brought to the museum. This is a guarantee of their safety. Otherwise, they would have disappeared from sight or got lost”, said Zilya Valeeva, the director of the museum-reserve “Kazan Kremlin”. Now the transferred items will be examined, in the course of which the researchers will have to study their origin, features of appearance, content, and the state of their preservation. After that, they will carry out the restoration procedure where necessary.

By decision of the Ministry of Culture of the RF and the Staff of the Ministry of Culture of the RF for the Volga Federal District, the exposition of Kazan museums will also be enriched by few items. The book of Timofey Granovsky from his collected works (Volume 1-2), published in Moscow at the beginning of the XX century, the book “The Life of European Nations”, published in St. Petersburg in 1881, the book “Masudi Prayer” of 1906-1907, the book by Franz Koenig “Guide to private surgery for doctors and students” of 1896, samovar with the label “Steam samovar factory of a trade and industrial partnership Meer Sluzberg in Tula” at the beginning of the XX century and a sewing machine from the Zinger factory, made in Europe at the beginning of the XX century. From 2004 to 2010, Russian and foreign citizens were trying to illegally remove all these items from the territory of the Russian Federation in violation of the requirements of the RF Law “On the export and import of cultural property” and the decisions of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission “On measures of non-tariff regulation”.

“We do exhibitions on new arrivals once a year. If we have time, we will present a few parts in exhibits already this year. For example, household items such as a samovar, a Zinger sewing machine can get to the thematic exhibition tomorrow. But an old coin, handwritten facsimile editions of Arabic graphics, an icon of the late XVI-early XVIII centuries require study and restoration”, explained Z. Valeeva. As a result of all procedures, for example, the ancient Quran of the beginning of the last century, which was published in Kazan, can be included in the number of exhibits of the Museum of Islamic Culture, and the Russian icon in the Museum of History of the Annunciation Cathedral.

This is a long practice of transferring cultural property into state income to cultural institutions and religious organizations by the Staff of the Ministry of Culture of the RF for the Volga Federal District. This is already the third time for the reserve-museum “Kazan Kremlin” that the fund has been replenished this way. In 2015, the museum’s collection was replenished with 12 cultural treasures, among them: the Cross-Crucifixion, a bayonet, and 10 objects of decorative and applied art made of glass.