Perugia, July 26 / 2017
To the President of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani
From Olga Leonidovna Juravlyova
Dear Mr. President Antonio Tajani,
I am of Russian origins and an orthodox Christian. I also worked as a trainee at the Russian Honorary Consulate in the city of Bolzano in 2013.
With the present letter I wish to write you in my name and personal interest to ask for your official help to resolve the problem of the Russian — Tyrolean cultural heritage concerning the Villa Borodina, that is the former Zarenbrunn at the town of Merano, a historical, prestigious manor house belonging to the Russian community, which for centuries has been present at the town of Merano and which hosts the first Orthodox Church of S. Nicola Tamaturgo in Italy, the museum displaying precious historical items as well as a library of Russian books of considerable historical value of Russian culture. The Province wishes to accommodate in this villa the 25 underage migrants and convert it into a nursery school of the refuge center next to the Russian Centre.
I also enclose the letter of interrogation of July 24th 2017 towards the President of the Region edited by the representative of the Forza Italia Party Giacomo Bezzi at the Regional Council of Trentino — Alto Adige.
The Villa Borodina has a centennial history and this year is the anniversary of the 120 years of its birth. It was founded by Russian benefactors, in particular by Mrs. Nadezhda Borodina, to enable also those Russians not particular rich to be treated. It holds a vast cultural heritage and works of art, antique books, icons and various church furnishings. The Villa Borodina endured wars, revolutions, geopolitical overturns but it is still there.
The Province has allowed the Russian Center Borodina to establish its offices on the ground floor of the Villa Borodina and the President of the Russian Center Borodina, Mrs. Bianca Marabini Zoeggeler envisioned to enlarge both the museum and the library in the process of development of the Centre, thus creating a pluricultural center in the city of Meran, in Central Europe.
My personal experience associated with this villa goes back to 2013 when I came to the Bolzano town for a traineeship offered by the University of Perugia at the Russian Honorary Consulate in Bolzano where I met the President of the Russian Association Bianca Marabini Zoeggeler who is the current President of the Russian Centre Borodina, whom we have to thank for her valuable scientific contribution to the conservation and the save-guard of our Russian cultural heritage which is also a heritage of South Tyrol and of the Italian Republic, that is the history of the former Zarenbrunn and of Villa Borodina.
Thanks to the President Bianca Marabini Zoeggeler I could visit the museum, the library and the orthodox church of the villa, where we held a conference on the Russian Nuptial Crowns. I also had the honor of attending the Orthodox Easter celebrations of 2013, when the former head of the Russian Center Borodina, Andrej Pruss, brought the Holy Fire from Jerusalem.
Furthermore, on May 9th 2013 I had the honor of attending the celebrations of the Russian Victory Day in World War II; I continuously receive invitations to events organized in collaboration with the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Italy for the laying down of flower wreathes on the tombs of Russian soldiers who fell in war and in prisons on south Tyrolese territory.
I believe it is important if Italy goes on with preserving our common cultural Russian — South Tyrolese — Italian heritage for the peace and the cultural and commercial development of our Nations, which at the current time becomes ever more fragile and politically played off against our national interests, both Russian and Italian.
I believe that the underage immigrants could be accommodated to this purpose in other well organized appropriate structures and, of course, they will be welcomed to study our Russian culture, our language, our literature, our Christian Orthodox religion, our ancient Slavic traditions and the cultural values at the Villa Borodina, as well as they should study the same issues at the languages, both German and Italian, of the Trentino-Alto Adige region, which will welcome and help them to become integrated.
Therefore, in my opinion, the Villa Borodina should enjoy an absolute immunity because it is a unique, historic, symbolic, prestigious and precious place of the Region which also hosts the vast immigrated Russian community with proper rights in the area and this is also the will of the President of the Russian Center Borodina, Bianca Marabini Zoeggeler, who kindly asks you, including me, to give your utmost attention and the utmost attention of the European authorities to the current situation.
I asked the aristocratic Russian Community of Europe for collaboration who assured me of its full support in creating the international committee in defense of our national cultural heritage wherever it is because recently there has been an analogue case in Milan.
Furthermore , in the month of September I will present the situation at the Forza Italia Party meeting in Fiuggi as a personal suggestion to defend the sites and historical monuments of the Russian heritage in Europe against inappropriate institutional decisions.
Looking forward to your kind reply and the possibility of meeting you in Fiuggi I send you my very best regards.
Olga L. Juravlyova Russian Quality in Perugia