KALUGA, December 22 (RIA Novosti). The Kaluga Region in central Russia is the future home of the World Ethnic Village, to be completed within the next ten years. The village, a cultural and educational center, will cover 83 hectares.
Its farmsteads will be authentic, re-creating the rural way of life in every part of the globe with dwellings and household facilities. Restaurants will offer ethnic dishes, and library computers will take visitors on virtual journeys. The village will also host exhibitions, conferences and concerts.
The region now possesses a prototype village, a nomadic camp of Kyrgyz, Tuva, Mongolian and Tibetan yurts, says Ruslan Bairamov, president of the Dialogue of Cultures - United World charitable foundation. The layout of the center, however, focuses attention on the Russian village.
Local cultural activists are full of ideas and willing to help. Artist Viktor Soldatenkov, for one, proposed creating a Russian steam bath museum. Other ideas are no less original, Bairamov says.
Project managers hope the World Ethnic Village will help reduce interethnic tensions.
One could hardly find a better place for the Village than the Kaluga Region, believes Viktor Ternikov, governor of the Borovsk District. "This is a clean spot with wonderful environmental conditions, and the Kaluga Region is rich in cultural and historical sites. The new center will blend right in." He added that the cornerstone of the project is the Russian Orthodox Church's teachings of tolerance.
