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Thursday 26 November 2020

Days of Papua New Guinea in St. Petersburg

 
The grand opening of the festival "Days of Papua New Guinea in St. Petersburg" took place in Russia’s cultural capital on November 26th 2020. The event was organized in terms of bilateral relations development between Russia and the Independent State of Papua New Guinea (PNG).

Such an event was held in Saint-Petersburg for the first time. The festival was held on the eve of the 45th anniversary celebration (the holiday was planned to be made in 2021) of the diplomatic relations establishment between the Russian Federation and PNG. It was also notorious that the 175th birth anniversary of N.N. Miklouho-Maclay was approaching. N.N. Miklouho-Maclay is a Russian ethnographer, anthropologist, biologist, and traveler who studied the indigenous population of Southeast Asia, Australia, and Oceania, including the Papuans of the northeastern coast of New Guinea, called the Maclay Coast.

Alexander Beglov, the Governor of St. Petersburg, opened the festival. He addressed the guests with a welcoming speech. He said that the festival provided an opportunity to get acquainted with the historical, cultural, and natural wealth of Papua New Guinea, enabling to see the prospects for mutually beneficial cooperation. The governor also noted that N.N. Miklouho-Maclay, the descendant and namesake of the great ethnographer, made a great contribution to the development of relations between our countries. Evgeny Grigoriev, the Chairman of the Committee for External Relations of St. Petersburg, pointed out in his greeting the similarity of the cultural diversity of Russia and Papua New Guinea and the importance of holding this festival.

Metropolitan Sergius of Singapore and Southeast Asia, Patriarchal Exarch of Southeast Asia, greeted the participants of the opening ceremony. The record of his speech was shown on the screens. Then, Dmitry Petrovsky, the Adviser to the Patriarchal Exarch of Southeast Asia of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, addressed the guests. He said that the festival opening was a worthy start of the 175th anniversary celebration of the remarkable scientist N.N. Miklouho-Maclay.

Lyudmila Vorobieva, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, and Vladimir Zapevalov, the Representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry in St. Petersburg, addressed the guests on record. The officials noted that despite the 45th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between Russia and Papua New Guinea, that would be celebrated in 2021, the informal Russian-New Guinean ties had begun much earlier, from the moment when the traveler and scientist N. N. Miklukho Maclay had arrived at the island. Mrs. Ambassador also noted that the Russian side was ready to share its experience and best practices for building mutually beneficial relations with the island state in all areas.

Oleg Chernyaga, the General Director of the Historical Park “Russia-My History”, addressed the guests on behalf of the host and expressed hope for fruitful further cooperation.

Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay, the Head and founder of the Miklouho-Maclay Foundation noted in his greeting that the progressive ideological heritage of the Russian scientist N.N. Miklouho-Maclay was of great importance. The prominent explorer left progressive ideas on the equality of races and peoples, on prohibition of the following activities: violent suppression of cultures, implementation of colonialism or violent cultural expansion. His scientific research and published books are a solid and impeccable support, a brilliant foundation in opposing nationalist ideas and a good basis for educating and enlightening the younger generation on the principles of respect for all the cultures of the world.

Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay also spoke about the six-volume edition reproduction of the collected works of N.N. Miklouho-Maclay, his renowned ancestor. Then he said that the book would be published by the Miklouho-Maclay Foundation with the support of the Russian Cultural Foundation in 2020 and would be dedicated to the 175th anniversary of the world famous traveler.

The prizewinners of the All-Russian contest "Travelers of Oceania" were also awarded during the festival. Then the memorable gifts were presented to the guests.

Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay conducted a sightseeing tour for the guests of the unique exhibition “Maclay Coast” accompanied by the music of the indigenous inhabitants of the Maclay Coast.  The exposition of the exhibition included objects of the material culture of Fr. New Guinea (bow, arrows, drum, etc.). The items were of high historical and cultural value. The following objects were also the exhibition materials: photographs and copies of drawings introducing the history of relations, that began with the expeditions of N.N. Miklouho-Maclay in 1871, expeditionary suit of the XIX century of N.N. Miklouho-Maclay (replica), an exact copy (model) of the "Maclay Coast", modeled on the basis of archival materials and copying the first historical meeting of the Russian scientist with the indigenous inhabitants of Fr. New Guinea.

Vyacheslav Kalganov, Deputy Committee of  External Relations, opened the second part of the festival grand opening and presented a business program. N.N. Miklouho-Maclay, the leading specialist of the Center for the Study of Southeast Asia, Australia and Oceania at the Institute of Oriental Studies, founder and director of the Miklouho-Maclay Foundation, the direct descendant and namesake of the great researcher, presented a report at the meeting “On the history of bilateral relations between Russia and Papua New Guinea”. D.V. Kumanovsky, the Head of the Analytical Department of “Investment Company LMS”, presented a report: “On the prospects of economic relations development between Russia and Papua New Guinea”.

The grand opening of the festival ended with the premiere of the documentary “The Return of Maclay”. The film told the audience what adventures the expedition of the great scientist descendant and traveler faced 150 years after N.N. Miklouho-Maclay's first expedition.

The premiere of this film in the public domain took place on the 1st of December exclusively on the VKontakte social network.