On the day of the Republic, August 15 in the morning, in the hall of the National Museum of RT, a “round table” conference “Tradition and today in the artistic use of felt” took place. It was a meeting of enthusiastic people; who came not just from Tuva, but also from various regions of Russia.  They were all united by by love of this amazing material which came to the 21^st century from the depths of history. If you ask an average young city dweller what objects made of felt he can think of, expect a short answer – felt boots and house slippers, and that only in the best case. But this undeservedly almost forgotten woolen material is now coming out of the shadow of oblivion,  and is becoming again attractive to artists, artisans and craftsmen.

The next trip of the “Nine Treasures of Tuva” project is to the settlement Seserlig of the Pii-Khem district. Specifically, we are going to the place named Ush Kozhee (Three standing stones), to visit the three nomads incarnated in stone, who are protecting their territory to this day. The three stelae from Early Scythian times, located in a small valley rimmed with mountains, still show depictions of chains, rings, and belts with daggers. Their faces are practically faded. Obviously, they are warriors.

Tuva holds an immense amount of treasures and mysteries. One of these treasures is irbis, the beautiful and mysterious snow leopard, to see whom is a rare fortune. However the officials of the republic are not at all concerned about the preservation of this red-book animal, and some would not even object to receiving the wonderful hide of the dead beauty as a present. And only thanks to the WWF is it possible to conduct work in Tuva for the purpose of protection of the snow leopard – there are about 100 of them here, which is about one half of their total number in Russia.

Today, national khoomeizhi Khaigal-ool Khovalyg, solist of the Huun-Huur-Tu ensemble torns 50. He has been described as the “engine driver” when the American musicologist Ted Levin, comparing “Huun-Huur-Tu” to a train, evaluated the different functions of the musicians in the group. He is a native of one of the most “musical” places of Tuva – Dzun-Khemchik sovkhoz “Iskra” ( many other khoomeizhis are from this place, including Oleg Kuular of “Shu-de”). Kaigal-ool started his professional career in 1979 as a member of vocal-instrumental ensemble “Ayan”; in those years, the artistic programs for this ensemble were prepared in Leningrad.

Today, National khoomeizhi of Tuva, one of the founders of world-famous group “Huun-Huur-Tu”, Kaigal-ool Khovalyg, turns 50. Only superlatives can do justice to his characterization. Talented singer, unique musician, wise friend, a wonderful family man, he is well known in many countries of the world, and of his admirers and friends there are literally legions. But the most important aspect is thatr he truly is a national singer. In every nation, singers such as him can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Listening to them, old men and children cry; grown women and young girls sigh; rulers admit the power the singer has over them, and even the strongest ones tremble…

From  September 1, there will be daily flights between Kyzyl and Novosibirsk, except Sundays, and the flight conditions will be more comfortable. At the same tiome the pricing will remain the same. In the fall, the company “Dexter”, the first Russian air-taxi, will start to perform daily flights on the route Kyzyl-Krasnoyarsk-Kyzyl and Kyzyl-Novosibirsk-Kyzyl. This understanding was reached in Kyzyl at the meeting of Premier of Tuva, Sholban Kara-ool with the chairman of the board of directors of the company “Avia Management Group” (Dexter) Yevgeniy Andrachnikov. During September, which is normally the busiest month because of the start of the school year and the end of the vacation season, “Dexter” will work on the Tuvan flights in parallel with the company “NovosibirskAvia”, whose airplane flies to Kyzyl three times a week.

Tomorrow, for the first time in the history of  the republic, the Felt Festival will open in Tuva. The first international festival “Patterns of Life on Felt” is dedicated to the Year of Tourism. Master-craftsmen of felt products - yurts, souvenirs, etc. - from Altai, Khakassia, Bashkortostan, Krasnoyarsk Krai, four aimaks of Mongolia, and five districts of Tuva, came to Kyzyl. On Lenin Street and next to the 5-years of Soviet Tuva Stadium, on the shore where the Big and Small Yenisei join to make a great river, is thye location of the yurt town.

The director of  “Alash-Travel” Orlan Kirov perished while rafting down the Kyzyk-Khem river with a group of tourists.  He was the head of the Tourist Association of the republic. The raft used by thye tour group capsized at the first rapids 60 km from Ush-Beldir, in a remote area of Tuva. Everybody survived except the tour guide Orlan Kirov, one of the most experienced tourists of the republic.

Today a group of forest fire liquidators arrived in komi from Tuva. 25 parachutists of the air fleet of Goskomles of Republic Tuva will take part in putting outb fires in three dirstricts of Komi, which has an extremely complicated situation with fires. It is the Ust-Kulomskiy and Troitsko-Pechorskiy districts ( with regime of emergency situation) and doeskin district, where 18 new fires started over the past three days. The decision to send specialists from Tuva to Komi was made by Premier Sholban Kara-ool.

This summer, Tuvan journalists had the fortuate opportunity to meet the living treasure of Tuva - the snow leopard. On July 21-23, the WWF organized a press- tour for journalists of GTRK “Tuva”,  TK “Novyi Vek”, and  journal “Plyus Inform” to visit the camp of the expedition as part of the learge-scale Tuvan project “Tos Ertine” - “Nine Treasures”.

The journalists spent three days in Mongun-Taiga district,  so that they could personally experience how the snow leopards live and survive in places which were once their hunting range, and now they are settled by people.