Pavel Shulgin and Olga Shtele took part in the XVI All-Russian Congress of Anthropologists and Ethnologists

The 16th Congress of Russian Anthropologists and Ethnologists, the largest ethnographic forum in the country, was held in Perm from July 2 to 6. The forum was attended by approximately 1,500 scientists and specialists from not only the Russian Federation but also other countries, who discussed key scientific issues in 62 sections.

A separate section of the congress was devoted to the problems of heritage, local history, and the experience of Russian regions in museum practices. Pavel Shulgin, Head of the Center for Comprehensive Regional Programs of Social and Cultural Development, and Olga Shtele, Leading Researcher at the Center, presented a joint report titled "Museumification of the Ethnographic Heritage of the East of the Republic of Tatarstan (Conceptual Directions and Specific Project Proposals)".

The report analyzed the emerging model of using the cultural potential of the Republic of Tatarstan. It identified seven major established centers in the republic, which were formed on the basis of museum-reserves and have become nodes of the cultural framework of Tatarstan. Attention was drawn to the "white spots" – the missing links of the cultural framework in the west and east of Tatarstan.

The east of the republic does not have any significant cultural heritage sites. However, this part of Tatarstan has always been considered by experts as a very important ethno-cultural region, a place where the Tatar identity was formed, and a territory with a high level of preservation of traditional national culture, associated with the names of Tatar philosophers, religious figures, and educators.

The real potential of the region's heritage was identified, including its ethno-cultural heritage, cultural landscape, traditional production heritage, and more. A project was developed to create a historical and cultural territory in the Almetyevsk region, based on the use of ethnographic potential and including historical production areas for white stone, copper ore, and oil.