Ministry of Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan Baku International Multiculturalism Centre Azerbaijani Multiculturalism Textbook for Higher Education

In 2007 the Foundation supported the restoration of old masterpieces in Versailles. The works restored by the



Foundation include Jacques Buirrette’s Amazon statue (1685-1693) and Claude Bertin’s Bowl with Handles Adorned with Fauns’ Heads (1687-1705). Both statues are kept in the park at Versailles and had been eroded over time. The statues were included in the list of World Heritage in 1979. In 2008 the


Foundation was also involved in restoration work at the Louvre Museum.

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2. 
   The Heydar Aliyev Foundation supported repair work to the Hall of the Philosophers Room in the Capitoline Museum in
   

Rome. An opening ceremony was held on 25 October 2013 after completion of the repairs.

2. 
   In September 2012 on the initiative of the Heydar Aliyev
   

Foundation new halls dedicated to Islamic art were opened at the Louvre Museum of Paris.

2. 
   On 2 June 2014 the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and the Vatican
   

Apostolic Library signed an agreement ‘On the restoration and digitization of manuscripts in 2015-16’. The agreement included the restoration and digitization of old manuscripts and the restoration of a number of monuments in the Vatican museums.

In addition, the Trapezitsa Architectural Museum Reserve in Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria, was restored with the support of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation. Mehriban Aliyeva and Leyla Aliyeva attended the reopening ceremony of the Reserve on 22 September 2016. The conservation and restoration work at Trapezitsa, one of the historical tourist centres in Bulgaria and Eastern Europe, lasted 10 months. The Heydar Aliyev Foundation financed the conservation and restoration of a 158-metre long western wall, the laying of an 880-metre long tourist walk, the creation of a cultural heritage centre, and the repair and conservation of three medieval churches in the complex.

Also as part of the Azerbaijan – Address of Tolerance project, a monument to Prince Vladimir was erected outside the Saint Vladimir Church in the Russian city of Astrakhan on the instructions of President Aliyev and with the support of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation. Leyla Aliyeva attended the foundation laying ceremony

384 on 12 September 2012. Leyla Aliyeva and Astrakhan Region

Governor Alexander Zhilkin attended the unveiling of the statue on 20 December 2013.

Natiq Aliyev, People’s Artist of Azerbaijan and an honoured member of the Russian Academy of Arts, designed the complex as a whole, while the statue is the work of Astrakhan sculptors Alexander Fedorchenko and People’s Artist of Russia Andrey Kovalchuk. The statue was erected to mark the 1,025th anniversary of Christianity in Russia.

Also as part of the Azerbaijan – Address of Tolerance project, the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and the Vatican signed a bilateral agreement on 22 June 2012 on the restoration of the catacombs of Saints Marcellinus and Peter. On 23 February 2016 Mehriban Aliyeva attended the reopening ceremony of the catacombs. Of 60 catacombs located around the city of Rome, those of Marcellinus and Peter are very significant for the Christian world. This project, the first of its kind, is considered as a contribution of the Muslim world to the holy sites of Christianity.

Holding exhibitions in various countries is a major part of the Azerbaijan – Address of Tolerance project. On 27 September 2013, a photo exhibition Azerbaijan – Land of Tolerance opened at the UN headquarters in New York. The exhibition was organized by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation jointly with the UN Alliance of Civilizations and the Azerbaijan State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations. The exhibition featured the work of the internationally renowned photographer Reza Degati on the theme of religious tolerance in Azerbaijan, a country he has visited many times. A similar exhibition opened in UNESCO headquarters in Paris on 22 October 2013, and then moved to the Azerbaijan Cultural Centre in Paris where it opened on 22 November 2013. The ceremony was attended by Mehriban Aliyeva and Leyla Aliyeva, French state and government officials, UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova, ISESCO Director General Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri,

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Rashida Dati, mayor of the 7th Arrondissement of Paris, senators, deputies, well-known figures from the world of art and French society and diplomats. The exhibition was highly appreciated by the public and received positive coverage in the press.