Uniting spaces, linking epochs…: Leo Tolstoy institute of culture in Bogota (Colombia) is 80 years old

The article is devoted to the anniversary date – the 80th anniversary of the Leo Tolstoy Institute of Culture in Bogota (Colombia). The paper gives an idea of the history of the Institute (its creation, stages of development) and focuses on the modern activities of the educational institution, which promotes (in the best sense of the word) Russian cultural and literary classics not only in Colombia, but throughout Latin America. Institutions of this kind are a form of establishing interstate relations. They are channels of dialogical communication: on the one hand, Russian culture in Colombia, on the other – Colombian Spanish-speaking culture in Russia. For Kazan Federal University, relations with the Leo Tolstoy Institute of Culture in Bogota are important: The Institute is named after a classic of Russian literature who lived and studied in Kazan; Leo Tolstoy’s ancestors and his relatives were closely connected with Kazan and the Kazan Region. In addition, many prominent representatives of Russian culture of the 18th –20th centuries were born, lived or visited Kazan (G. R. Derzhavin, S. T. Aksakov, E. A. Boratynsky, A. S. Pushkin, A. I. Herzen, M. Gorky, N. A. Zabolotsky, V. Khlebnikov and others). We express the hope that, thanks to the cooperation of Kazan Federal University and the named Institute, there will be a steady interest in the cultural heritage of the peoples of the Middle Volga Region and the Urals – Tatar, Chuvash, Udmurt, Mordovian, Mari and Bashkir people, in Colombia and other Latin American countries. Russia is a multinational and multi–religious country. The expansion and deepening of cultural relations are promising tasks of this cooperation.