By RIA Novosti
Moscow : An Indian House – to showcase the cultural legacies of the country – is coming up on the outskirts of the Russian capital.
The foundation of the centre is being laid Thursday and the construction is expected to be completed in 2009 – officially announced as the Year of India in Russia.
The house includes an exhibition hall, a yoga class, an Ayurvedic medicine room, an Indian restaurant and a guesthouse.
This mini-India on Russian soil will be part of the 84-hectare Ethnomir Complex 90 km west of Moscow. The entire project involves building of 52 different ethnic cultural centres.
The Indian House will be a miniature India inside Russia, according to Ruslan Bairamov, president of the Dialogue of Cultures-United World Fund, which is credited with the establishment of the Indian House and the whole of Ethnomir.
Russians will have a chance of getting a taste of Indian culture without leaving Russia, he added.
The architect’s design includes eight rooms, each representing one of India’s different ethnic and cultural regions.
The materials for the interior decoration will be brought from India. Designer Koushal Choudhry has prepared the architectural draft of the centre.
On the whole, the Indian House will follow the model of Auroville in southern India as a universal “cultural township” and a site for dialogue and the synthesis of cultures.