Penza, 3 July 2015. PenzaNews. The official event “Lermontov’s Genius Eternal” took place at the Lermontov public garden of Penza on Friday, July 3, before the main agenda of the 44th poetic festival dedicated to him.

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In his address to the gathering, the acting chief of the Penza region Department of Culture and Archive Evgeny Shilov noted that the poet’s character took its shape in the Penza land even though the man was born in Moscow.

“What lies in the genius of [Mikhail] Lermontov? We do understand that his thought was ahead in the future of Russia, just like any great artists did. And he saw that in spite of all the difficulties, in spite of the sometimes tragic fate that befalls our country, it has great future,” he said.

Vera Feigina, head of the Penza Department of Culture, followed him with congratulations with the opening of the 44th Lermontov poetic festival, and quoted the poet.

“‘I want to live; I crave for sadness / Against my bliss and love, in truth,’ ‘And God I witness in the skies.’ Every line is a touch of eternity. Our love to Lermontov’s poems is also a reach out for eternity. As long as Russia lives, the Russian culture lives on, and our memory of the great Russian poet is the proof,” Vera Feigina said.

Afterwards, people laid flowers and wreaths to the monument of Mikhail Lermontov and held a mourning gathering.

The singers, accompanied by the municipal orchestra of Russian ethnic music “Penza” and ensemble “Stargorod,” sang the spring romances after his poems, while children from the music and arts schools of Penza red excerpts from the writer’s works.

The guests of the event also enjoyed the Penza poets, members of the Russian Union of Writers.

One of them, Lidiya Terekhina, triple laureate of the Lermontov Award, noted that the stream of letters to the literary magazine “Sura” where she works, has letters dedicated to the genius poet “almost from every corner of the world, except Africa perhaps.”

“And I am not surprised but rather delighted, because every one of us has their Lermontov,” she said.

In his turn, Valery Sukhov, laureate of the Penza region gubernatorial award, particularly stressed the prophetic fate of the artist.

“Lermontov’s dates of birth and death coincide with tragic events. Perchance we have not realized it yet, but a great threat is looming over us. And so we time and time again turn towards works by Lermontov. And he helps us be confident in ourselves, believe in our great Motherland,” he explained.

Larisa Yashina, twice laureate of the Lermontov Award, expressed her belief that only the Penza region citizens could write about the poet “that warmly and precisely.”

Every speaker also read their poems dedicated to the great Russian classic, and Boris Shigin, editor-in-chief of the literary magazine “Sura,” invited the gathering to the presentation of the third issue that includes the article “The Tarkhany Legend of Lermontov’s Origin” by Petr Frolov, the eldest Penza researcher of Mikhail Lermontov.

The atmosphere of the poet’s age was complemented by the actors of the historical common dance studio “Compliment” who were dressed in the 19th-century costumes.

Another event that took place in the public garden that day was a presentation of a book composition designed by the workers of the Belinsky city central public library: a wicker gazebo included an arrangement of the works dedicated to life and art of Mikhail Lermontov, his graphic works, and posters about the poet and his places of residence.