"Filosofia del Pellegrinaggio". Olga Zhukova and Alexey Kara-Murza at the First Bargrad Readings

From 10 to 14 September 2018 in the Italian cities of Bari and Monopoli (Apulia), the First Bargrad Readings "Filosofia del Pellegrinaggio", dedicated to the philosophy and history of Russian pilgrimage, were held

The joint project was organized by the University of Bari (Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro), the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Institute of General History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the National Research University "Higher School of Economics", the Association "Russian Apulia".

At the plenary meeting, held at the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literature of the University of Bragrad, Director of Lettere Lingue Arti. Italianistica e culture comparate Department Francesco Fiorentino, Vice-president of the Association "Russian Apulia", the representative of the Institute of General History of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Italy Mikhail Grigorevich Talalay, Professor of the University of Bari, the researcher of Russian culture Dr. Marco Karatozzolo addressed the participants with welcoming speeches.

The main speakers were the initiators of the project - Professor O.A. Zhukova, a deputy head of the International Laboratory for the Study of Russian and European Dialogue  (the report "Bargrad: the history of Russian culture and holiness"), and Professor A.A. Kara-Murza, a chief research fellow of the Laboratory (the report "Envoys of Peter the Great in Bargrad in 1697-1698").

The report of O.A. Zhukova illustrated the plot of the parallel construction of the Barrow Compound in Italy and the St. Nicholas Church in St. Petersburg and revealed the cultural, religious and political significance of the Bargrad churches in Russian history. The report of A.A. Kara-Murza presented the results of the original author's study of the journey of Peter's followers to Italy and revealed its cultural meaning and historical and political implication.

The Moscow group of participants of the Readings held meetings with the rector of the Patriarchal metochion of St. Nicholas in Bari farther Vyacheslav (Bachin) and the head of the Representative Office of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society in Bari Olga Anatolyevna Novichkova and visited an Orthodox divine service on the relics of St. Nicholas in the basilica of Bari.

The report of the central TV-channel of Bari on the First Bargrad Readings at the Università degli Studi di Bari 'Aldo Moro'