Life-sized sculptures of Russian artist Svyatoslav Roerich (1904-1993) and his wife and former Indian actress Devika Rani (1908-1994) have been unveiled at the Roerich House Museum, located in the Kullu valley in the foothills of the Himalayas.
The ceremony held on Sunday was attended by representatives of the local authorities of Himachal Pradesh, public figures, diplomats and journalists.
These are the first life-sized sculptures of Roerich and Rani in India. The first sculptural image of Svyatoslav Roerich — his bust — was opened several years ago in the southern Indian city of Trivandrum, which also has a street named after him.
Highlighting the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Russia and India, the Russian Ambassador to India Denis Alipov also conveyed his greetings on the occasion of the traditional Russia-India Spring Culture Festival at the International Roerich Memorial Trust.
In his message which was read out at the event, Alipov said that endeavours to preserve the legacy – by maintaining of estates and museums in Naggar or Tataguni, taking care of legendary paintings and conducting regular events – contribute tremendously to safeguarding a very special nature of ties between Moscow and New Delhi.
"Understanding of our proud unparalleled achievements – be it industrial, nuclear power, defence, space dimensions, etc. – would have been incomplete without realizing the shared universal humanitarian values that are behind them, which were in fact cultivated by the Roerichs here in India," said Alipov.
The link, he said, has bound souls of the two nations shaping the rock-solid foundations for the relationship to steadily grow further.
Svyatoslav and his wife Devika, a famous Indian film actress, had lived in the Indian south for many years, where their former estate Tataguni is located — 20 km from the city of Bangalore. They bequeathed that their manor be turned into a scientific and cultural centre.
