The Award ceremony was held at the National Museum on Tuesday 22nd August 2023, where the Russian Ambassador to the Sultanate of Oman His Excellency Ilya Morgunov awarded His Excellency Jamal al-Moosawi with the medal.

The Pushkin Medal is one of the highest awards granted by Russian Federation. The medal is named after the poet Alexander Sergey Pushkin. It is awarded to foreign personalities for their role in bringing cultural rapprochement between their countries and the Russian Federation.

His Excellency Jamal bin Hassan Al-Moosawi, Secretary- General of the National Museum, said: This honor is an inspirational source for more upcoming achievement and continuous cooperation between the Sultanate of Oman and the Russian Federation, and it also reflects the work in the cultural and museum fields over the past 12 years.

He added: Russia’s interest in Arab culture and the ability to absorb other cultures embodies the Russian spirit of cultural and religious pluralism, based on a civilisational experience that extends its roots to ancient times. Also, its identity is based on the glorification of the well-established system of noble values, and the soul inclined towards love and brotherhood.

It is worth noting that the Pushkin Medal is a state decoration of the Russian Federation that is awarded to its citizens and foreigners for their achievements in the arts, culture, education, humanities and literature fields. The Pushkin Medal is awarded to the foreign personalities for their significant contribution to the development and strengthening of cultural ties with the Russian Federation, for their fruitful activities in aim to support the Russian culture and art, in addition to the active work in popularizing the Russian language and literature abroad.

The roots of cooperation between the National Museum and its counterparts in the Russian Federation go back to the year 2015, when a memorandum of understanding was signed in the cultural and museum fields between the National Museum and the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg on May 28, 2015, and the appointment of Prof. Dr. Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director General of the State Hermitage Museum, as a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Museum (2014 – to date), in addition to providing specialised professional training and qualification for the National Museum staff at the State Hermitage Museum (24 May – 6 June, 2015), then hosting the exhibition “Oman Day” at the Winter Palace on (23 July 2018), followed by hosting the “Hermitage Day” exhibition at the National Museum (11 March – 11 May 2019).

The National Museum also inaugurated the first gallery bearing the name “Oman Gallery” in the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg on 2nd June 2021, and on 22 November 2021, The National Museum inaugurated display of the original manuscript of “A Collection of Poetic Arages in Maritime Navigation” by the Omani navigator Ahmed bin Majid as-Sadi, on loan from the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, and on 24 November 2021, the Museum launched the “Reflections” display by the Russian designer Kirill Ovchinnikov, who is known for the integration of fine art with design, and on 25 November 2021, the National Museum launched the exhibition “Islamic Civilization in Russia and the ” Hermitage Corner” at the headquarter of the National Museum.

A team of experts from the State Hermitage Museum, in cooperation with the preservation and conservation team at the National Museum, preserved the Palmyra ruins damaged during the years of the crisis in Syria, some of which were displayed in an exhibition titled “Syria the Cradle of Civilisations” at the National Museum in 2022, and on 16 June 2022, the National Museum inaugurated a specialised corner for Omani publications at the Institute of Oriental Studies at St. Petersburg State University.

Work is also underway on specialised vocational training and qualification for the staff of the National Museum at the State Hermitage Museum during the years 2023 – 2024. On November 2023, the second exhibition at “Oman Gallery” will be inaugurated at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, in addition to the inauguration of the second exhibition at the “Hermitage Corner” at the National Museum on 2023.

The Pushkin Medal is a circular silver medal of 32 millimeters in diameter, with raised edges on the obverse and back. The obverse bearing a self-portrait (linear drawing) of the poet Pushkin, and in the centre of the back a horizontal signature of Pushkin, which takes up most of the overall width of the medal. The letter “N” appears prominently below the signature near the bottom edge for the medal and a line dedicated to the serial number of the medal.

Because of the status of the Pushkin Medal as a State Medal of the Russian Federation, many world heads of state have received the Pushkin Medal, including: “Akaev, Askar Akavich – President of the Kyrgyz Republic”, “Jagdeo, Bharat – President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana”, “Klaus, Vaclav – President of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan”, Czech, Li Peng, PRC – Former Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, “Mesić, Stjepan – President of the Republic of Croatia, Radmanović, Nepojsa – Member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, “Halonen, Tarja Karina – President of the Republic of Finland”, “Christofias, Dimitris – President of the Republic of Cyprus”, “Jiang Zemin, People’s Republic of China – Former General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and President of the People’s Republic of China”, “Enkhbayar, Nambaryn – President of Mongolia” and Perez de Cuellar, Javier – Former Secretary-General of the United Nations and Prime Minister of the Republic of Peru. As for the Arab world, the Pushkin Medal was awarded to prominent cultural figures in both the Arab Republic of Egypt and the Syrian Arab Republic, while the medal is awarded for the first time to an Omani figure in our ceremony.
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