Restorers will clean Shulgan-Tash Cave from graffiti in Bashkiria

UFA, 5 November 2015. /Bashinform News Agency, Gulfiya Akulova/. In November scientists and experts in study and conservation of cave paleolithic paintings will gather in Bashkiria to remove modern graffiti from the walls of the famous Shulgan-Tash Cave (Kapova Cave). Arrival of the famous European specialist restorer Edal Anton Giyame from the Principality of Andorra is expected, who has experience of cleaning the Western European caves Chauvet, Lascaux and Rouffignac located in France, and Altamira Caves in Spain. Russian specialists will also work together with the foreign expert in the Bashkir cave: leading researcher of the All-Russian Geological Research Institute Yuri Karpinski, the senior researcher at the Department of archaeological research of the Institute of History, Language and Culture, Ufa Scientific Centre, RAS Vyacheslav Kotov, who made an invaluable contribution to the archaeological study of the Shulgan-Tash Cave. They will be assisted by a group of researchers of the Scientific and Production Centre on protection and use of cultural heritage sites at the Ministry of Culture RB and the Museum Reserve "Shulgan-Tash".

According to the Scientific and Production Centre, in Bashkortostan in 2016 it is planned to hold an international symposium on restoration of petroglyphs.

"At present, negotiations are held on the invitation of renowned experts in the field of preservation of rock art: it is the head of the Museum of Altamira Jose Antonio Lasheras, director of the National Museum of Prehistory, Jean-Jacques Clay Merle, curator of the Chauvet grotto Marie Bardiza and academic secretary of the Institute of Archaeology RAS, member of International Committee on Rock Art at ICOMOS (UNESCO) Ekaterina Devlet", the Scientific and Production Centre reports.

The Shulgan-Tash Cave is a unique historical and cultural heritage of the Russian Federation with the cave paintings of the Upper Paleolithic age. Under the common name of the "Bashkir Ural" it was nominated to the World Heritage List of UNESCO. Currently, work is underway on the preparation of the bid profile of the site, according to the Ministry of Culture RB.