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Kislovodsk hosts the opening of Solzhenitsyn museum

The new museum will be located in the memorial building of the Gorina Mansion where Solzhenitsyn used to stay

Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn Vladimir Zinin/ITAR-TASS

Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn

© Vladimir Zinin/ITAR-TASS

KISLOVODSK, the Stavropol territory, May 31 /TASS/. A grand concert took place in the building of the local philharmonic society in the Russian spa city of Kislovodsk on Saturday as part of events devoted to the opening of Russia’s first museum of writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

The Museum of Alexander Solzhenitsyn cultural center, a new subsidiary of the Russian State Literary Museum, will open in Kislovodsk on May 31. It will be located in the memorial building of the Gorina Mansion which has reopened after renovation and where Solzhenitsyn used to stay.

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Exhibition devoted to writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn opens in Moscow

Solzhenitsyn’s widow Natalya told TASS prior to the concert that publishers continued publishing Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s books years after they had been written. "His books are constantly being reprinted. We live in capitalism now and they publish only what is going to sell well. His books are published every year. I work with about 12 publishers who constantly prolong contracts with me," Natalya Solzhenitsyna said.

"I am not surprised at all. If life becomes harder and more severe, more and more people are going to read Solzhenitsyn’s books," the writer’s widow stressed.

She is convinced that Russia has preserved its high cultural level. "Though it may seem that culture has been drowned, it’s not true. It’s nothing of the kind. A huge number of people, including young people, are leaning towards something true and genuine. Your philharmonic hall is full but you are not giving any pop concerts here. People read a lot and they are going to read more," Natalya Solzhenitsyna went on to say.

She emphasized that humans and human nature had always been the most important thing for Alexander Solzhenitsyn. That is why his books will always be vital and topical.

"At one time they said that he is the signer of the labour camp theme who has opened this labor camp theme. That is not the point. He always wrote about a person in extreme conditions - be it war, revolution, fatal disease or prison - by using his own experience. He wrote about how a person reacts to extreme situations, and this will always be vital. There will always be diseases, God forbid, revolutions and wars," Solzhenitsyna told TASS.

Events devoted to the opening of Museum of Alexander Solzhenitsyn are taking place in Kislovodsk on May 30-31.

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