Photo-essay on the conference "In terms of gifts. Traditions of symbolic communication in Europe of 1110-1700"

On October, 18, 2011, in the Armoury Chamber’s hall, the opening ceremony, marking the Conference "In terms of gifts. Traditions of symbolic communication in Europe of 1110-1700", took place. The conference, held within the cross-cultural collaborative programme "The Russian-German Year of Education, Science and Innovation", has been initiated by the Moscow Kremlin Museums, Westphalian Wilhelms-University of Münster, German Historical Institute in Moscow, Faculty of History of the Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of History of the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE).

The welcoming speech was given to the audience by Dr. Andrei Batalov, the Deputy Director for Science of the Moscow Kremlin Museums.

During the conference opening ceremony addresses were given by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Germany to Russia Mr Ulrich Brandenburg, Deputy director on Scientific Popularization Affairs of the Moscow Kremlin Museums Ms Olga Dmitrieva, Rector of the Westphalian Wilhelms-University of Münster Prof. Dr. Ursula Nelles, Chancellor of the German Historical Institute in Moscow Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Katzer, Dean of the Department of History of the the Lomonosov Moscow State University Dr. Sergey Karpov, Dean of the Department of History of the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE) Prof. Dr. Alexander Kamensky, Director of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft Office Russia/CIS Dr. Jörn Achterberg, Head of the Excellence Cluster "Religion and Politics" of the Westphalian Wilhelms-University of Münster Prof. Dr. Gerd Althoff, associate professor of the Department of History of the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE) C.Sc. Mikhail Boytsov.

On October 19 and 20 the meeting and readings proceeded in the Cross Chamber of the Patriarch's Palace and in the conference hall of the German Historical Institute in Moscow. Within the conference programme about 20 lectures have been delivered by scientists and researchers from Russia, Germany, France, Poland and Sweden. The reports on the topic were presented by representatives of the Westphalian Wilhelms-University of Münster, the Moscow Kremlin Museums, the German Historical Institute in Moscow, the Faculty of History of the Lomonosov Moscow State University, the Faculty of History of the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE), the Tadeusz Manteuffel Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, Institute of Slavonic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of General History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Westminster College of New Wilmington in Pennsylvania, Uppsala University in Sweden, the University of Oxford in England.

The world's largest collection of ambassadorial gifts, carefully preserved in the Armoury Chamber, serves as a mine of information for researchers, investigating the history and peculiarities of diplomatic relations between the countries. The conference has been intended to encourage collaboration and promote the dialogue between scientists from both countries.