Yesterday, the Moscow House of Nationalities held event in memory of the Ossetian poet, artist, humanist Kosta Khetagurov. A round table dedicated to his 160th anniversary brought together representatives of Russian culture, politics, and public figures.
“We're honoring a person whose art and destiny surprisingly reflected unique processes of cooperation between peoples and cultures that have unfolded over the centuries in Eurasian spaces. Ossetia-Alania has always played an important role in this dialogue of cultures and times. By the way, this year marks 245th anniversary since Ossetia became a part of Russia," Lev Dzugaev recalled.
In addition, a book published by the Peace of Caucasus Foundation "Costa. Greatness of Spirit", was presented at the events. Regional public fund for promotion of cultural development was established in 2000. Among its founders are Bella Akhmadulina, Rustam Ibragimbekov, Andrey Bitov, Armen Dzhigarkhanyan and others. “The Foundation works on cultural projects and has published this book. This is Kosta Khetagurov’s spiritual heritage - not only poetic, but also visual. We decided that we should gather our friends - people with whom we have been working for many years, colleagues, representatives of Ossetian community. Significant figures of Russian literature and culture gathered here to talk about what Kosta Khetagurov phenomenon is and what it can mean," Alan Kasayev, editor-in-chief of the RANEPA website, said.
During the round table, an initiative was proposed to dedicated the next issue of the "Yunost" magazine to the culture of Ossetia and the legacy of Kosta Khetagurov. “Let’s not put it off, let’s take all the best from this events. Let's dedicate this issue to Kosta Khetagurov. I can't even say ”let's dedicated it to his memory", because he's still one of us, in his works he combined the topics of love, homeland, family and universal values," politician, television journalist, editor-in-chief of "Yunost" magazine Sergey Shargunov said.
Evening began with a look at the film "Kosta Khetagurov. Testament” by Rafael Gasparyants. Director said that translation of the film into the Ossetian language will be presented soon.
Foreword for ”Costa. Greatness of Spirit” was written by Tamir Salbiev, senior researcher at the Scythian-Alan Studies Center, who noted that the poet’s religiosity is not ritual, not external, it has deeply internal roots.
Daughter of another great Caucasian poet, correspondent member of the Russian Academy of Arts, Patimat Rasulovna Gamzatova, said: "This book touched me deeply, because although these verses were presented in separate publications, Kosta Khetagurov's religious component was reflected here for the first time. I want to congratulate you on the release of this books with such a beautiful illustrative range."
Director general of Vestnik Kavkaza news agency, Ismail Agakishiev, noted exceptional role of the writer in shaping the mentality of inhabitants of the Greater Caucasus: “We Caucasians perceive everything in particular way due to nature and geographical conditions. Caucasian traditions are impossible without advice, without poetry, without understanding of life, which is reflected in the works of the great poet Kosta Khetagurov."
Founder of Ossetian literature, Kosta Levanovich Khetagurov, was born on October 15, 1859. Poet wrote a lot in Russian, and his works were actively published in periodicals of the North Caucasus. The works of Kosta Khetagurov are included in the list of 50 greatest works of Russian literature since the time of Peter the Great.
