Would Russia be able to preserve the Roerich’s heritage?

By Andrey Nikitin

The answer to this question depends on whether the state honors its promises to S.N. Roerich

International Roerich Memorial Trust (Regd.) 
India Bangalore

President: Dr. Svetoslav Roerich

Attention of Mr. Yuri Luzhkov, Mayor of Moscow

Dear Mr.Luzhkov

Kindly accept my cordial congratulations and best wishes on the occasion of your election. I strongly hope that your activity in this office will benefit Russia and further promote the prosperity of our capital.

I would like to bring to your notice that in 1990 I handed my parents’ legacy to the International Centre of the Roerichs/ex the Soviet Roerich Foundation, of which I am the honorable President.

I was promised support by the ex USSR President M.S.Gorbachev in granting me the restored Lopukhins’ estate for storing and exhibiting my parents’ heritage, which is supported by resolutions of the USSR Council of Ministers and Moscow government (Mossovet) executive committee.

Unfortunately, these promises were never fulfilled, the restoration works are progressing slowly, not because of the International Centre of the Roerichs (ICR), and are not likely to be completed soon. This causes my deep worry.

Here in India we are aware of your active involvement in the cultural life of Moscow and the revival of Russia’s spirituality. Therefore I would like to ask for your personal assistance in transferring the Lopukhins’ estate (Marx-Engels Street, 3/5) to the books of ICR or leasing it long-term with a sub-let option…>

This year Moscow witnesses the commencement of the 3 legal proceedings regarding the confiscation of historical property. Scandalous details merely outline the expensive property “managing” that has been in the interests of federal officials of culture. Starving sculptors have made attempts at preserving the downtown mansion, restored with their own hands as the House of Sculptor. At the same time plans are being made to transfer the Circus at Vernadskiy prospect into “the right hands”. An attempt has been made to dispossess the International Centre of the Roerichs of the Lopukhins’ estate. Although ICR restored this estate by public donations, and ICR head, Ludmila Shaposhnikova, even received a national “Cultural Heritage” award. All these three cases on valuable historical property acquisitions are directly connected with Mikhail Shvydkoy, a prominent cultural figure. This published story testifies that if bureaucrats deliberately complicate the case, their goal is ultimately money and property. And never – culture.

As opposed to philosophy, journalism is a very down-to-earth sphere. And since the story is about the Roerich legacy it is particularly important for us to examine the facts. Sophisticated flight of thoughts and rather arguable accounts would hardly be avoidable, so let’s start with the key points. If one is to walk along former Karl Marx street (now Maly Znamensky pereulok), at the bend of this street (facing the rear of the Fine Arts Museum named after Alexander Pushkin) the Lopukhins’ estate, an architectural masterpiece of XVII-XIX centuries, is situated. Up to the second half of 1990s there were only ruins on this site, only an expert was able to recognize it as a historical landmark.

But the estate was restored like possibly no other monument in Moscow, right before our eyes, and this is an empirical fact.

Right now we are approaching only one facet of the complex argument around the Roerich heritage: trial regarding the right of possession of the estate.

Historical reference

Prior to returning to Russia the heritage of his parents, N.K.Roerich and E.I.Roerich, their youngest son Svyatoslav Roerich laid down two conditions: the museum should be non-state and located in the Lopukhins’ mansion. These conditions were accepted by the USSR leaders (Council of Ministers’ resolution No.950 of 04/11/1989 and Mosgorispolcom decision of 28/11/1989). After making sure of that, S.N.Roerich hands over gratis his legacy to Russia, so that the Museum by name of N.K. Roerich is created.

Few months after Svyatoslav Roerich passed away, the Government adopted resolution No. 1121 of 04/11/1993 “On establishing the State Museum by name of N.K. Roerich”. The Museum, as a branch of the State Museum of Oriental Art, was delegated with the operative administration of ruins, which the Lopukhins’ estate was at the time. At that time none of the earlier state acts on setting up non-state museum, as per the will of Svyatoslav Roerich, were annulled. The International Centre of the Roerichs, which at the time was planning a very complicated restoration, was denied any legal rights to the mansion, which had previously been secured by preservation lease contract. Appeals by the academic Likhachev, cosmonaut Sevastyanov, World chess champion Karpov and many other prominent figures to the authorities in support of ICR were in vain.

Historical reference

In 1994—1995 the Superior Arbitration Court of Russian Federation, based on a petition by ICR, tried a case on abrogation of clauses 2 and 3 of the Russian government resolution No.1121 “On establishing the State Museum of N.K. Roerich”. These clauses were annulled. Based on the resolution of the Superior Arbitration court panel the decision was to take immediate effect, without the right of appeal. However it was appealed against by the Chairman of the Superior Arbitration court of the Russian Federation, who, without adding anything new to the argument, demanded the panel to reenact the abolished clauses of the government resolution. This was done, thus once again breaching state commitment to Svyatoslav N.Roerich.

After the resolution of the Superior Arbitration Court there were no attempts made to bring this resolution into effect. Now after 12 years (14 years if you take into the account the date of the government resolution No. 1121) the Federal agency managing federal property made a claim to the Moscow Arbitration Court against the International Centre of the Roerichs to evict it from the Lopukhins’ estate. The claim is based on the assumption that government resolution No.1121 has never been implemented, so it considers now is the time to set it right by returning the property to the state. During these years the ICR has never left the estate and has been investing hundreds of millions rubles in its restoration, not a penny from the state funds, only private donations, i.e. from the public. Hence the question: who owns it now?

In general, the question “Who are we?” was a central issue for Nicholas Roerich as a philosopher and artist. Some consider him genius, others naive, however regardless of the general attitude towards the Roerichs there can be no doubt that the mere phenomenon of this outstanding family with its extraordinary history is part of Russian and world culture. When discussing the Roerich heritage we have to consider the material “legacy”: paintings and other rarities from their collections, which cost hundreds of millions of dollars, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, there is the intangible part of heritage that cannot be materially valued. Using the language of Russian philosophy, this is something from the “noosphere”.

Before we get down to the level by no means sublime (someone simply has his eye on the estate beautifully restored by Roerichs’ admirers and is trying to get hold of it), we are forced to set the ideology straight. Since those only interested in the property also aspire to justify its seizure by the use of ideological arguments, for example that the Roerichs are quite alien to the “Russian way”. If to idolize the Roerichs, which certain of their followers indeed sometimes do, it turns out that the Russian Orthodox Church is right: this is no Christian approach. However if we leave aside all idolizing and ideology, there is nothing in Roerichs’ concept that in principle contradicts Christian Ethics. Nicholas Roerich believed that the salvation of humanity lies in kindness and beauty. Would you disagree?

Do we need the Roerichs’ heritage in Moscow, and more specifically in Moscow’s Volkhonka? That Gumilev and Babel were executed here is part of Russian history, exiled Berdyaev and Brodskiy – are part of Russian history as well. Similarly the Roerichs, as fate would have it, found themselves outside their motherland in India and mostly creating there, are no doubt part of Russian culture. If this is not the case, it is more logical to send their heritage back to India, the more so because as a result of legal battles over property that would be de jure more correct. Would Russia be able to preserve the Roerich’s heritage?

Out of all Roerichs’ statements let’s pick one that comes to mind when examining the dispute over an estate from a position of law. Notably: "the culture should rise above state barriers." This was reflected by Nicholas Roerich in his famous “The Roerich Pact”. The same consideration was voiced by the last of the Roerichs, Svyatoslav, when he was insisting on transferring the Roerich heritage to Russia, but by no means to the state. In his letter titled “Linger no more!”(that was published in “Sovietskaya kultura” newspaper in July 1989 and was considered a certain manifest and no doubt an integral part of his will in the broad sense), Svyatoslav Roerich wrote, “The essence of the Centre-Museum concept is that its most optimal functioning can be in public organization status. <…> While placing it under the authority of the Ministry of Culture and even more so of the State Museum of Oriental Art could lead to unjustified, in my opinion, deliberate limitation of its missions and potential.”

These seemingly purely juridical issues regarding this specific property cannot be correctly resolved without understanding the last of Roerichs’ train of thoughts, without defining his actual will. Now we are again down to the legal domain, foundations of civil law that are unified everywhere since the times of Roman Empire. They cover the notion of civil law transaction and rules of adjudications. If the terms of transaction are vaguely and inconsistently formulated the dispute should be resolved (in court) on the grounds of actual will of the parties, which has to be determined. Further developments around the Roerichs’ heritage are more likely due to some ideological reasons and certain high-ranking officials’ “love” of Roerichs’ works. However, Svyatoslav Roerich formulated the actual terms of his will quite explicitly: after his demise the heritage was to stay in Russia owned by the specific public organization with a view to setup non-state Museum by name of N.K.Roerich at the particular venue – the Lopukhins’ estate, where it all had to be accommodated.

Maybe in a broader sense it is more correct to discuss the will of the whole Roerich family, taking into the account the way their testament was evolving since late 1940s. There is a lot of evidence that Nicholas Roerich wished his heritage to be legalized in Russia. Being a patriot, the elder Roerich longed for placing the physical Centre of “heritage” (implying the ideas as well) specifically in Russia. In his lifetime such a project did not sound realistic, but his will is still obvious.

Svyatoslav Roerich wished to hand over the heritage to the public organization set up by him. Until that moment he exhibited his collection in Russia on numerous occasions.

The exhibitions of paintings were a great success. The collection of the Roerichs’ works that belonged to Svyatoslav turned into a travelling exhibition. In 1978 it was showcased in Bulgaria from where it was imported into the USSR for the last time. The Soviet Ministry of Culture was in charge of the paintings but Svyatoslav Roerich never granted them to anyone in the USSR. At the same time some experts point out that the complete S.N.Roerich’s collection catalogue that was for the last time properly compiled before exporting the collection to Bulgaria, does not correspond to the lists compiled later at the State Museum of Oriental Art. There are some discrepancies regarding a number of the exhibits and certain “mis-reprenttions” in some of the declarations. Since then the complete collection has never been showcased, a large part of it is still in storage.

By order of the Ministry of Culture of the USSR dated 30/05/1989 the whole collection of Svyatoslav Roerich was handed over to the State Museum of Oriental Art for “temporary storage” without the owner’s consent. Possibly the aforementioned letter in “Sovietskaya kultura” newspaper was Svyatoslav Roerich’s reaction to this, with him suggesting to create the non-governmental Centre-Museum by name of Nicholas Roerich and specifically pointing out that it should be public and not under any circumstances subordinate to the Ministry of Culture and the Museum of Oriental Art (probably there were certain grounds for distrust). From the legal point of view this absolutely clearly manifested that Roerich did not confirm the transfer of assets to the Museum of Oriental Art, he was against the idea.

In November 1989 with the participation of Mrs. Raisa Gorbacheva as the Chairman of the Soviet Peace Fund, the Soviet Roerich Foundation was established along with the Centre-Museum by name of N.K. Roerich as the major base for the Foundation. It was for exactly this purpose that Svyatoslav Roerich selected the Lopukhin’s estate. The Soviet Roerich Foundation was duly registered at this address in 1989. Svyatoslav Roerich considered this to be secure enough and transferred to the then "Soviet Roerich Foundation" in March 1990 his share of his parents’ heritage: his father’s and his own paintings, the family archive, library, relics and rarities. Along with the paintings brought over from India in 1990 this also included the collection of S.N. Roerich, imported to the USSR in 1978 and “provisionally stored” in the Museum of Oriental Art. All the items were listed in a 40-page document notarized in India in 1990. This document, titled “Archive and heritage of the Roerichs for the Soviet Roerich Foundation in Moscow”, Roerich executed in the format of testamentary disposition: he indicated that as long as he lived, he remained the owner of all assets, however upon his demise all was to pass into ownership of the Soviet Roerich Foundation.

The collection was exported to Moscow onboard a special governmental aircraft and the Indian part of the collection was quartered in the dilapidated mansion in Volkhonka, where it was gradually turned into an exposition while the Lopukhins’ estate was being restored.

All circumstances of transferring the Indian part of the collection in 1990 thus proved that the will of the last of the Roerichs was clear to all persons and agencies concerned and was fulfilled but for one point: before his death on the 30th of January 1993 in India Svyatoslav Roerich never managed to withdraw the items “temporarily stored” in the Museum of Oriental Art, all his demands were simply ignored. Two weeks after the last of the Roerichs passed away the Director of the Museum of Oriental Art ordered a change to the status of the collection from temporary to permanent. Not that it legalized in any way the right of ownership of the paintings, neither for the Museum of Oriental Art nor for the Russian state as a whole.

Six months later, on the 4th of November 1993, the Russian government passed the resolution No. 1121 on establishing the State Museum by name of N.K. Roerich as a branch of the Museum оf Oriental Art. The official grounds for such action were based on the will of Svyatoslav Roerich’s widow Devika Rani Roerich. In October 1993 on her behalf a telegram was sent to President Yeltzin threatening to withdraw the collection to India if it was not “entrusted under the state supervision”. However Devika, Indian movie star of 1940s, was never an heiress of Svyatoslav Roerich parents’ heritage earlier transferred to Russia, neither in legal nor in any other sense. The contradiction between her wish and the repeatedly expressed will of her late husband is clear and looks strange in view of customs and culture of India. The telegram from the widow, who passed away herself shortly after, was not notarized by anyone, and some people close to the family insisted that in October 1993 Devika was too unwell even to sign it let alone understand the contents. At that time Devika Rani Roerich was taken care of by the Roerichs’ secretary Mary Punacha. After Devika Rani passed away Mary Punacha was charged by Indian justice with embezzlement of the Roerichs’ assets and belongings, and with forged signatures in the last will of D.Rani. Criminal proceedings against the former secretary are still underway.

In Russia the last years on earth of Svyatoslav Roerich were marked with turbulent historical changes. The USSR ceased to exist as a state. The Soviet Roerich Foundation became obsolete even in its name and was transformed into the International Centre of the Roerichs. At the same time neither its concept and staff nor its bank account had been changed. Svyatoslav Roerich, both in his special letter to Mr.Yeltzin and with his notary, managed to confirm that all his instructions regarding the heritage transfer to the Soviet Roerich Foundations remained valid towards the ICR, thus he indeed saw them as the same organization. However after his demise, when it was not obviously possible to ask him once more, the arbitration courts in Russia did not accept his interpretation, perceiving a certain gap in legal succession from the Soviet Roerich Foundations and the ICR.

A strange unofficial telegram from India and the deliberate confusion with the names are, in general, the two facts that promoted the Russian government’s resolution in 1993. This was the basis on which the ICR was deprived of the Lopukhins’ estate which was to be given to the Museum of Oriental Art. What came next? Strangely enough - nothing. The ICR not only continued to reside in the Lopukhins’ estate by making a new lease contract with the Moscow authorities but also managed to fully restore the mansion creating the Public Museum by name of N.K.Roerich thus fulfilling the will of its founder Svyatoslav Roerich. In 2007 director general of the Museum by name of N.K. Roerich, first vice-president of the ICR Ms L.V. Shaposhnikova received a national award “Cultural Heritage” for the re-creation of the ancient estate. A year earlier by the Presidential decree Ludmila V.Shaposhnikova was awarded the Order of Friendship for the protection of cultural heritage (Roerichs’ and the Lopukhins’ estate – editor) and for the contribution to museology (creating the Public Museum by name of N.K.Roerich). As for the State Roerich Museum – a branch of the Museum of Oriental Art, it was created only on paper. And here’s how those 15 years passed by.

Having restored the mansion the ICR remembered the collection of 228 paintings, bequeathed to it by S.N.Roerich, which were still stored at the Museum of Oriental Art against the owner’s will. A petition was filed to one of Moscow’s general jurisdiction courts to acknowledge the fact of the ICR receiving the legacy of S.N.Roerich as per his testament. And such a fact was acknowledged.

Cosmic laws that all the Roerichs dedicated themselves reflecting on unfortunately do not compensate the earthly greed. The eternity shall not of course bother about it, but so far we are still down here.

The then Head of the Ministry of Culture Mr.Mikhail Shvydkoy became really agitated and through the Moscow City Court sought for this decision to be annulled. This case was returned for another hearing. Now the courts refuse to examine the claim based on grounds that the proceedings should be "as per the lawsuit" without specifying who should sue whom and regarding what. However, all of the above looks quite menacing for the Museum of Oriental Art. It is most likely that was what caused another statement of claim to disposes the ICR from the Lopukhins’ estate. And it was not difficult to gain support from the Ministry of state inventory, taking into consideration the historical venue and current condition of the estate. It is only hard to believe that in winning the lawsuit the estate would belong to the State Roerichs’ Museum for real.

Whatever the outcome the estate would still stay here in Volkhonka, but what would happen to the Roerichs’ heritage? Whatever your personal attitude towards them, the heritage is not just some legacy; it is a priceless cultural asset of Russia, apart from that it also has a certain monetary value. Leaving aside the fact that there are no grounds to legalize the collection of S.N.Roerich in the Museum of Oriental Art, in case of evicting the ICR from the Lopukhins’ estate all legitimate reasons to retain the Roerichs’ heritage in Russia would disappear whatsoever. It would violate all conditions of returning the Roerichs’ heritage to Russia and breach state guarantees to Svyatoslav Roerich. And the International Centre-Museum by name of Nicholas Roerich that has become world-famous during the course of the past 18 years would be destroyed.