The message reads, in part:
“This large-scale creative project marks the 75th anniversary of the Great Victory that we will celebrate in 2020, the Year of Memory and Glory in Russia.
The exhibition’s remarkable paintings, sculptures, documentary footage and photographs have enormous artistic, cultural and historical value. They preserve the memory of the unprecedented courage and resilience of our fathers and grandfathers and contribute to the patriotic upbringing of our youth.
It is a pleasure to see that for the first time, such an impressive collection of brilliant works created by both eyewitnesses and participants of those heroic events and representatives of the post-war generations has come together in one exhibition.
I am certain that the heroism of our nation during the Great Patriotic War will always inspire us and serve as an inexhaustible source of creative ideas for both acclaimed masters and those who are only beginning their artistic journey.
I would like to point out the tremendous hard work of the highly professional initiators and organisers of this exhibition, the Patriarchal Council for Culture and the staff of the Tretyakov Gallery.”