VZCZCXRO8625
RR RUEHLN RUEHPOD RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHMO #2700 2531405
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 091405Z SEP 08
FM AMEMBASSY MOSCOW
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9906
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEHXD/MOSCOW POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 2210

UNCLAS MOSCOW 002700 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL RS
SUBJECT: MOSCOW TOLERANCE MUSEUM TO OPEN IN 2011 
 
¶1.  (U) Summary. The Federation of Jewish Communities in 
Russia announced its plans for the opening of the world's 
largest museum of Jewish history and culture in Moscow in 
¶2011.  Financed by Russian businessman Roman Abramovich and 
Israeli diamond broker Lev Levaev, the museum evolved from 
2004 discussions between Moscow Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov and Chief 
Rabbi of Israel Iiona Metzger.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) On September 8, Interfax news agency reported that 
the Museum of Tolerance, the world's largest museum of Jewish 
history and culture, would open in Moscow in 2011 under the 
direction of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Russia 
(FEOR), headed by FEOR President Aleksander Boroda. 
According to Moscow Human Rights Bureau Executive Director 
Natalya Rykova, a former assistant to Chief Rabbi of Russia 
Berel Lazar, discussions about establishing the museum began 
in September 2004 when Chief Rabbi of Israel Iona Metzger 
visited with Moscow Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov.  Rabbi Metzger 
appealed to Luzhkov for the creation in Moscow of a 
world-class museum to serve as a tourist center for Jews 
around the world.  Luzhkov, in turn, promised Rabbi Metzger 
to found a museum, and received administrative support -- and 
reportedly personal financial support -- from then President 
Vladimir Putin for the project.  Russian magnate Roman 
Abramovich and Kremlin-connected Israeli businessman Lev 
Levaev funded the museum. According to Rykova and Euro-Asian 
Jewish Congress Vice President Roman Spektor, Abramovich also 
financed the construction of the museum's exposition center 
as a gift for his fiancee, Darya Zhukova. 
 
¶3.  (U) Construction on the museum will begin in 2009 
incorporating the architecturally-unique Bakhmetev garage, 
designed in 1927 Soviet avant-garde style to house English 
automobiles, located on Obratsov Street in northwestern 
Moscow.  The museum will encompass 17,000 square meters, 
4,500 meters of which is dedicated as an exposition to the 
history of the Jewish people. In addition, the museum will 
house a scientific center, a two-story educational center and 
exhibition complex, a library, conference halls, and 
galleries.  German architects from Graft Labs and designers 
from Ralph Appelbaum Associates, famous for their work on the 
USA Holocaust Memorial in Washington D.C. and the William 
Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Arkansas, have 
been selected for the museum's design. 
 
¶4.  (U) The museum's goal will be to present the history of 
Jewish life in the Russian empire and the Russian Federation 
in order to educate visitors on Jewish life, religion, and 
culture. According to Rykova, FEOR's goal is threefold: 
demonstrate the characteristics of the Jewish national 
identity through the museum's collections; attract attention 
to the museum through its original architecture; and, discuss 
the Holocaust in an empirical format with testimonials from 
survivors.  Museum organizers have already started receiving 
documents and historical items as charitable donations, 
including a silver pointing stick used for reading the Torah 
and a 100 year-old Hannukah menorah. 
BEYRLE