Sergei Shoigu: "It is incredibly interesting to study one's own native country."

A presentation of photo-album "Black and White Tuva. Unfinished history…", which was published on the initiative of Sergei Shoigu with the support of Russian Geographic Society, took place at the National Museum of Tuva. The event had additional ceremonial aura because of the presence of artists from the National theatre of Music and Drama in historical costumes; Kaigal-ool Khovalyg, National khoomeiji, played the igil. Huge numbers of photographs from personal archives of travelers and residents of Tuva were collected in the album, but the majority belongs to the first director of Tuvan State Museum Vladimir Yermolayev.

The album encompasses a century - from 1889 to 1989. It includes six sections, including photographs from the time of Uriangkhai Krai, Tannu-Tuva in 19818-1940, expeditions of the Imperial Geographic Society to Uriangkhai Krai until 1917, and other significant periods in the history of our republic.

- What has been done turned out to be incredibly interesting work for me, - said the head of Emergency Situations of Russia, President of Russian Geographic Society Sergei Shoigu to the part5icipants of the meeting. - I wanted to show the multifaceted history of Tuva, history of Russia. In this album, those who judged and those who were judged can be seen, those who executed and those whom they executed, and those who healed as well as those whom they healed. The first teachers, the first doctors. A fact documented in a photograph cannot be distorted, it is impossible to falsify, it is a photo-fact, and that is that.

There are photos that need to be studied. And it is unfinished history, because here the families which were prominent on historical scale have their own archives. I invite them to a dialogue…"

The conference hall was packed: veterans, scholars, heads of organizations and agencies, representatives from the Russian geographic Society and Emergency Services of Russia. Anastasia Chernobrovina, the head of "Good Morning" TV show on channel "Russia" was also at the presentation. It turned out that "Good morning" is not the only project that the famous TV personality is involved in. at the same time she also works on TV channel "My planet", which actively works with the RGO. Everybody listened with what pleasure Sergei Kuzhugetovich commented on the photographs.

The head of Tuva Sholban Kara-ool told the gathering about the "child-like joy" on the face of Sergei Kuzhugetovich, remembering one of their meetings in Moscow: "Photographs were laid out on a huge ministry table, and Sergei Kuzhugetovich was pointing here to one, there to another of them: "Look w3hat a beautiful face! How much enlightenment is there!"

Only a person who loves his nation without any reservations can get so much joy from those black and white photographs. Sergei Shoigu himself shared his impressions of the photos: "Children of arats", in Tuvan tons (coats), and one of them is holding a page from a tear-off calendar in his teeth. The number is visible - 14 - but not the year. Could they be still alive? "I would very much like to see the tailor who made the pants for those kids. How could it be possible to sew like that? Even me, not knowing anything about sewing, would have done a better job of it." Pupils of the first Tuvan school, 1929. "Absolutely pleased, happy kids sit there in felt boots, but two of them are barefoot. How did they get there, in the snow, in winter? But they are so pleased with this life that they did not even notice that they were barefoot, that they need anything." Astonishing man kneeling in front of a blackboard covered with numbers, yet continuing to write more with his chalk stick. This photograph "Man brought to his knees by arithmetic", 1930, as well as some other photos from the album, were on exhibit in one of the halls of the museum.

Sergei Shoigu thanked to those who helped him with the work on the album - Dina Oyun, Kara-kys Arakchaa, his sister Ailana Kuzhuget. He thanked all the museums which shared their archival photos, in particular Minusinsk Museum, where "we took a lot, but I realized from the eyes of the museum director that we did not get everything yet."

He said we should listen to the older generation's unfinished histories, and publish them at the presentation. There was a descendant of one of the Decembrists - Evgeniy Konstantinovich Mosgalevskiy with his wife. The album contains five photos from their family archive Evgeniy Konstantinovich said that they have more photos. One of the unique albums was given to the Mosgalevskiys as a present. The album was also given to respected and merited people of Tuva - the scholar Mongush Mannai-ool, state activist Tamara Norbu, director of the Chadan branch of the museum Viktoriya Pyuryuna, director of the National Museum Viktor Chigzhit, old resident of Kyzyl Barynmaa Dazhy-Norbu, chairman of Tuvan section of RGU Svetlana Kurbatskaya, scholar and writer Mongush Kenin-Lopsan, commander of the legendary artillery team of the Shumovs - Alexander Shumov.

Tamara Chash-oolovna Norbu said that she couldn't not come to this meeting. In the first place she expressed condolences to Sergei Kuzhugetovich in connection with the death of his mother - Alexandra Yakovlevna Shoigu, and thanked him for the unique present.

A discussion began after the journalist Tatiana Ramazanova asked if it will be possible to put together such a colorful album using color photos, which terminated with the unanimous conclusion by the parties: black-and-white photographs have a certain mystique. The president of RGO evaluated the question and gave Tatiana a color photograph with a "portrait" of a sable (author Sergei Gorshkov, Kamchatka). Another present like that, but with another subject, was received by the director of the museum, Viktor Chigzhit. After the presentation, everybody moved over to one of the halls of the National museum, where a photo-exhibition "Black and White Tuva" opened. It presents photographs from the album of the same name. They were given to the museum.