UNITED NATIONS - / MaximsNews Network / 03 July 2008 -- On Tuesday, July 8, 2008 from 12 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. the Link of Times Foundation and Harvard University will host a ceremony marking the official exchange of the historic St. Danilov Monastery bells for their exact replicas and the transfer of the bells to Russia.

In the 1930s, eighteen bells from St. Danilov Monastery – barely avoiding destruction – were sold abroad at the price for scrap metal.  A member of an American charitable mission in Moscow , Professor Thomas Wittemore of Harvard University , saved them and convinced a prominent American industrialist, Charles Richard Cane, intrigued by Russia at the time, to purchase the bells.  Since then, the Danilov Bells have resided at Harvard, where several special buildings were modified to accommodate them.  The Russian bells ring for a quarter of an hour every Sunday and during holidays.  As many Harvard alumni acknowledge, for over 70 years the bells have been an integral part of university life – a tradition that will live on through the replicas cast in Russia . 

First attempts to return the unique bell ensemble to Russia were made in the 1980s.  Progress in realization of this dream came only in 2004, when Foundation Chairman Victor Vekselberg replied to a request from Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexii II.  Dr. Vekselberg agreed to provide for the expense of returning the bells to St. Danilov Monastery.

Following the ceremony the historic bells will be transported to New York and on to Russia by sea.  The return trip of the bells will echo their original voyage from Russia . The ship carrying the historic bell ensemble will arrive in St. Petersburg in mid-August. Then the bells will proceed to Moscow , where on September 12, they will be officially returned to St. Danilov Monastery. 

Additional information on the project can be found at www.Danilovbells.ru and http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2008/05.29/01-lowellbells.html.

The event will take place outside Lowell House ( Harvard University , Lowell House 10 Holyoke Place Cambridge, MA 02138), at the intersection of Holyoke and Winthrop streets.

Guests of honor include Dr. Drew Faust, President of Harvard University, Archimandrite Alexey of St. Danilov Monastery, and Dr. Victor Vekselberg, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Link of Times Foundation.  

Media Questions: 

Andrey Shtorkh, official representative, cultural and historical foundation the Link of Times: 011 7 (495)975-0240

Alexander Popov, deputy official representative, cultural and historical foundation the Link of Times: 011 7 (495)720-4999 ext. 5718 

Daria Yezerova, press-secretary, St. Danilov Monastery011 7 (916)836-3950  

Edward Mermelstein, director, representative office of The Link of Times in the USA (917) 628-1867 

Labels: United Nations, U.N., MaximsNews, Harvard Link of Times Foundation, Harvard University, St. Danilov Monastery, Professor Thomas Wittemore, Charles Richard Cane, Danilov Bells, Foundation Chairman Victor Vekelsberg, Lowell House

 

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