Penza, 5 July 2013. PenzaNews. XLII all-Russian Lermontov’s festival of poetry opened with a ceremonial meeting by the poet’s monument in Penza on Friday, July 5.
The participants of the event were the heads of the city and the region, the representatives of public organizations, poets and writers, as well as devoted readers of Mikhail Lermontov’s poetry.
As the acting head of Penza Zhigansha Tuktarov noted, during the days of the festival, there is special atmosphere in the region.
“The era of the greatest connoisseur of Russian soul — Mikhail Lermontov — awakes. It is difficult to find a person who would not be acquainted with the art of our distinguished countryman. His works have been translated into many languages uniting people of different religions, different nationalities and different ages. Lermontov is our pride, our strength, our love. We must protect the treasure inherited from the great poet,” he said.
In turn, the head of culture and archive of the region Evgeny Shilov added that the work of Mikhail Lermontov is still relevant.
“Each of us feels the lines from his poem “Motherland.” Today we face the challenges of other civilizations, but there is understanding that we are a great nation, a great civilization with great culture. And one of the founders of this culture is Mikhail Lermontov,” he stressed.
At the end of the meeting, the flowers were laid at the monument of Mikhail Lermontov.
As news agency PenzaNews reported earlier, annual all-Russian Lermontov’s Festival is held for two days in 2013 — July 5–6. The theme of the event is one of the poet’s lines: “The Russian people — this multi-armed titan...” The main celebrations will be held at the State Lermontov Museum-Reserve “Tarkhany" on Saturday, July 6.
