At the invitation of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation (in accordance with the intergovernmental protocol on cooperation in the field of culture), a delegation of South African cultural figures headed by Temba Wakashe, Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Culture, visited Moscow and St. Petersburg from August 31 to September 5, 2003. Three guests represented the Iziko Museum Association - director of the association G. Bredekamp, specialist-curator of the collection of historical paintings and sculptures H. Proud and Acting Director of the National Historical Collection, D. Oland. The delegation also included the Director of the National Archives Department, M. B. Gilder. In the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, the guests were received by the first deputy. Minister D. V. Molchanov and Head of the Department of Foreign Cultural Policy L. L. Marchenkov. The Institute for African studies, a conversation with Deputy Director V. G. Shubin and head of the Center for South African Studies L. N. Rytov. The guests from South Africa visited a number of museums in Moscow and St. Petersburg and were satisfied with the warm welcome and the opportunity to establish contacts with Russian museums and other cultural and scientific institutions. The potential for developing ties and mutual enrichment of cultures is quite large.

So, the" core "of the delegation was the representatives of Iziko. Translated from the Kos language, this is the heart, and in a figurative sense, the center of some, in this case, cultural activity. Iziko Museum Association is an association (consortium) that currently includes fifteen museums and cultural and historical complexes located mainly in Cape Town and its suburbs.

The organization was established in 1999 in accordance with the decision of the Government of South Africa to merge the museums of Cape Town into a single consortium. This merger was intended to ensure the widest possible access to cultural and historical monuments for the public, especially for representatives of the indigenous African population, as part of the policy of transforming the Republic of South Africa, the recent "apartheid sanctuary", into a truly democratic State.

A single organization called the Iziko Museum Association of Cape Town has been operating since 2000. An important impetus for its further development was the appointment of Henry ("Jetty") as the head of the association Bredekampa, who became the first African ("colored") according to the former racial classification) to occupy the highest post in this museum association. The new management of Iziko aims to transform the organization into "an authentic African high art museum center".

Among the museums of the Iziko association, the following can be distinguished, the most authoritative and popular in the country:

The South African Museum is one of the oldest research centers in South Africa. It was founded in 1825. The collection of the museum, which is one of the largest attractions of the city, contains anthropological exhibits that reflect the development of man in the region since ancient times, as well as samples of the cultural heritage of the indigenous population of the country. The museum and the planetarium included in the museum complex are visited annually by more than 300 thousand people;

African National Gallery. The gallery features numerous works by South African artists, as well as paintings by famous Dutch, British and French masters.;

African Maritime Museum. The museum's numerous and diverse collections reflect the life of the "underwater kingdom", as well as the maritime history of the port city of Cape Town. It is home to Africa's largest collection of ship models from different historical eras.;

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Slave Lodge. "It's a monument to the history of the slave trade. On the territory of the museum, under the auspices of UNESCO, archaeological excavations are being conducted to recreate the history of the largest surviving former "slave houses" of the East India Company in the world;

The is a complex that exhibits fossilized flora and fauna, the oldest representatives of which lived here more than five million years ago. The park is considered a world-class field museum both in terms of its size and level of organization.

Along with museums, a large number of visitors are attracted by one of the oldest and most revered wineries in South Africa, Hrut Constantia (Groot Constantia), which is part of the Iziko structure.

The Iziko Association employs over 250 researchers and other specialists. Together with the University of Cape Town School of Business, the museum staff has been trained since 2002. Various research projects are carried out periodically. The Association seeks to expand the scope of its activities, holds foreign exhibitions of its collections and hosts expositions from other countries.

Iziko actively cooperates with museums and research centers in the Netherlands, Great Britain, France, Switzerland and Finland. The arrival of representatives of the black majority at the head of the ANC to the leadership of the country, many of whose leaders studied and were trained in the USSR, contributes to establishing cooperation with Russia, in particular in the field of culture. The management of Iziko is interested in cooperation with Russian museums, which was confirmed by this visit.

As a result of official events, agreements were reached on cooperation between the museums of South Africa and Russia (Moscow and St. Petersburg), including mutual visits of specialists, and further exchanges of exhibitions, exhibits, historical documents, etc., as well as holding various joint events.

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