The Russian Orthodox Church proposed changes to the legislation that would allow the transfer of objects from museum funds to religious organizations, said “Interfax” Head of the Legal Department of the Moscow Patriarchate Abbess Xenia (Chernega). She said that on the basis of the order of the President of the Russian Federation, the government had prepared a draft law on amendments to Art. 26 of the law “Fundamentals of Legislation on Culture” and Art. 7 and Art. 16 of the Law “On the Museum Fund and Museums in the Russian Federation”. The purpose of the amendments is to consolidate the principle of the integrity of the collection of museums in Russia.
“The Church has proposed additions to the bill aimed at ensuring that museum objects and museum collections of religious purposes, included in the state part of the Museum Fund of the Russian Federation and owned by the state, can be transferred for free use to religious organizations with the permission of the federal executive body in the field culture on the basis of the relevant agreements in the manner prescribed by the Russian government,” the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church said.
As Abbess Xenia told Kommersant, the transfer of museum valuables to religious organizations has been going on for a long time. “Government Decree No. 490 dated June 30, 2001 “On the Procedure for Transferring to Religious Organizations Federal Property for Religious Purposes Classified as Museum Items and Museum Collections Included in the State Part of the Museum Fund of the Russian Federation or Documents of the Archival Fund of the Russian Federation” long ago regulated the procedure transfer of religious museum values to religious organizations,” she explained. “However, this decision is a by-law.” According to the abbess, “in order to avoid abuses at the local level, when museums refuse to transfer such valuables to religious organizations under the pretext of the absence of relevant norms in the federal law, the church will seek to introduce into the legislation a direct indication that the procedure for transferring museum objects and collections to religious organizations religious purpose is determined by the government of the Russian Federation.
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