Konstantin Gilevich, deputy director of the Roerich Center in Eindhoven, will give a lecture on the unique nature of the Roerich Pact. The lecture will be accompanied by live piano music by Olga van der Pennen.
The Roerich Pact, also known as the “Red Cross for Art and Culture,” is a 1935 treaty intended to protect cultural, religious, and scientific institutions and monuments, which are, as it were, elevated above human conflict, from destruction in the event of armed conflict. It is a predecessor of the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in Armed Conflict. The symbol of the Roerich Pact is the Pax Cultura, a symbol of peace. The three solid red spheres represent art, science, and religion/spirituality within a larger circle of culture. The color red symbolizes the one blood we share as humanity.