Russian Cultural Center in Jericho to Open in January
Museum and park complex that includes
the Russian Cultural Center in Jericho, will be completed by the next
January. Russian officials will attend an official opening ceremony that
is expected to take place in January, deputy head of the Imperial
Orthodox Palestinian Society Nikolay Lisovoy told Interfax-Religion.
As
Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia earlier said this museum
complex «will become the first major project in the Holy Land in the
third millennium that was actively taken by the Russian state.»
The Pilgrimage Center is constructed on Russia's land lot on the Jordan.
It will
welcome Russian pilgrims who visit the country's shrines especially the
place where Jesus Christ was baptized according to the Christian
tradition.
«Great work has been done, breast walls have already
been constructed as there is very complicated soil structure there, the
building is almost ready, but the finish is yet to be done, so much work
is still in store,» head of the Moscow Patriarchate Administration for
Foreign Institutions Archbishop Mark of Yegoryevsk told the agency.
Building
of the Russia Cultural Center in Bethlehem, according to him, is at the
stage of project design, but it was earlier reported that works are to
be completed by 2012 when the Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society celebrates its 130 anniversary.