Workshop: “Value Education for Culture, Peace and Human Development: from India to

the world”

Nicholas Roerich – The Banner of Peace

Chezhina Ekaterina,monami1510@mail.ruSaint-Petersburg State University of Culture and Arts

Value and Value EducationPreparing for the workshop I discovered Nicholas Roerich's ideas applicable in Value Education. His point of view about the protection of cultural heritage is absolutely impressive and I share his remarkable opinion. Nowadays when the meaning of true cultural values fades away I am used to say “don’t lose your heart and do your best to cultivate cultural values that connect you with your roots”. But cultural values can not exist without human values like love, respect, happiness, joy, peace etc. that help different nations to find a lot of in common and to live in a peaceful society. That’s why I reckon that the concept of “Value” is the ability to appreciate cultural heritage of any nation and to show your respect to any nation in whole. Moreover, “Value” is the most powerful thing that can unite peoples’ souls into big one. And we are able to get this idea through Value Education that teaches us to “be the change you want to see in the world”.

“Only the values of culture will solve the most complex problems of life”.

Nicholas Roerich (1874-1947), Russian painter, writer, philosopher, poet, archeologist, ethnographer, lawyer, traveler and diplomat. He contributed enormously to the birth of the system of international heritage legislation as we know it today, many of the crucial notions and concepts of which were first publicly pronounced in the beginning of the XX century by Nicholas Roerich.

The Banner of Peace

Nicholas Roerich created the the Roerich Pact, the first international document proclaiming the absolute precedence of cultural heritage protection over the military necessity, and the Banner of Peace, a symbolic flag adopted by Roerich to distinguish all the creations of human genius all over the world.

The Banner of Peace is created to protect all true treasures by which the human race evolves and it also urges us to live in a peaceful society.

The Banner of Peace symbol has ancient origins. Perhaps its earliest known example appears on Stone Age amulets: three dots, without the enclosing circle.

But for the purposes of the Banner and the Pact, Roerich described the circle as representing the totality of culture, with the three dots being Art, Science, and Religion, three of the most embracing of human cultural activities. He also described the circle as representing the eternity of time, encompassing the past, present, and future.

The Roerich Pact was first agreed to by twenty-one nations of the Americas and signed as a treaty in the White House, in the presence of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, on April 15, 1935, by all the members of the Pan-American Union. It was later signed by other countries also.

The Roerich Pact established an international agreement allowing any nation to protect its cultural heritage with the Banner of Peace.

ReferencesGhandi,M. Quotation: “Be the change you want to see in the world”.Koush, A. Value Education for Culture, Peace and Human Development:

Master Thesis, University of Bologna, 2012/2013.Roerich, N. Realm of Light, Nicholas Roerich Museum New York, 1999-2014,

available http://www.roerich.org/roerich-writings-realm-of-light.phpRoerich Pact and Banner of Peace, Nicholas Roerich Museum New York, 1999-

2014, available http://www.roerich.org/roerich-pact.php

All images’ rights reserved by Nicholas Roerich Museum New York and International Centre of The Roeriches Moscow

Thanks for your attention!