Dear museum workers,

At the suggestion of the International Council of Museums (ICOM), the international community has been celebrating May 18 as International Museum Day since 1977.

Our country with rich museum traditions has actively participated in and advocated this initiative for 4 decades. Every year these days, queues at museums have become common for us, which indicates the great interest of the public. The key advice and message of the holiday is the re-evaluation of the role of museums: museums have expanded their role as cultural and educational centres, taking on a new mission of facing modern challenges, promoting inclusivity and the formation of a healthy society. Museums should be an essential guide of the educational system, becoming a learning environment for organizing the education process of our children.

The theme of International Museum Day - 2023 is "Museums, Stability and Well-Being", which once again reaffirms the vital role of museums in the sustainable development of communities and the formation of prosperous societies. Visiting a museum is an important indicator of the quality of life. In accordance with the requirements of the time, today museums use a variety of forms and communication methods to present their collections to the public in new approaches and designs. Continuing the good traditions, this year our museums, in accordance with the advice of the day, will present new and interesting events to the public, which will end on May 20 with the European "Night of Museums” event.

18 May also marks the professional holiday for museum workers. Therefore, I warmly congratulate all the specialists in the field who, with their dedicated and conscientious work, contribute to the preservation and popularization of our rich cultural heritage, and the sustainable development of museums. The holiday is also significant for museum lovers, whose demands and social consistency also contribute to the promotion of the sphere and the implementation of new ideas.

I wish the devotees of the museum field infinite creative energy and new professional achievements, and to the museum lovers, I wish the will to always seek and find something new while at the same time sticking to stable values.