Museum Space: Modern Technologies and Value Guidelines

The conference responds to the need to develop common professional and substantive approaches to implementing Federal Law No. 74-FZ of 21 April 2025, “On Commemorating the Victims of the Genocide of the Soviet People during the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945”, in museum, exhibition, educational, and tourism activities. The Federal Law established a common legal basis for commemorating the victims of the genocide of the Soviet people, defined the concept of that genocide, set out the principal forms of commemoration and the powers of public authorities, and established the institution of a national operator. Since 2026, the functions of the national operator have been performed by the National Centre for Historical Memory under the President of the Russian Federation. Under these circumstances, the pressing task is to move from individual museum, exhibition, and memorial initiatives towards a unified professional framework founded on shared principles of historical accuracy, scholarly verification, the ethically responsible presentation of tragic events, the personalization of memory of the victims, and the use of modern technology. Within this system, a museum should be regarded not only as a place where historical evidence is held but also as one of the fundamental institutions shaping a culture of historical memory, one that translates documented historical knowledge into the cultural and public environment of today. Particular importance attaches to engagement between museums and memorial complexes, cultural heritage sites, archives, and the sites of the mass murder and burial of civilians. Bringing these together into coherent routes of historical memory makes it possible to take work to preserve that memory beyond individual museum displays and create a single historical space, accessible to people living in the regions, to tourists, to schoolchildren, and to young people.