From May 12 to 26, Moscow will host a unique photo exhibition titled Altai – the Homeland of the Turks: The Common History and Culture of the Peoples of Russia and Central Asia. The exhibition will be held at the Moscow House of Nationalities (4 Novaya Basmannaya St., Bldg. 1) and will be open to both specialists and enthusiasts interested in history, archaeology, and ethnocultural heritage.
This major cultural event has been organized on the initiative of the Government of Altai Krai, Altai State University, and the Russian Historical Society. The project is supported by the Moscow City Government and the Moscow House of Nationalities and is dedicated to the Year of Unity of the Peoples of Russia.
The exhibition features approximately 120 rare photographs taken during archaeological excavations and international ethnographic expeditions conducted between 2021 and 2025. Researchers from ASU have carried out fieldwork in Altai Krai, the Altai Republic, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan as part of the international project of the Greater Altai Research and Educational Center.
The exhibition demonstrates that the early stages of the formation of the Turkic community took place in the Greater Altai region. This helps explain why the modern cultures of Turkic peoples in Russia and Central Asia share many common features and traditions.
In February 2026, the photo exhibition Altai – the Homeland of the Turks: the Common History and Culture of the Peoples of Russia and Central Asia was presented at the Plenipotentiary Representation of Altai Krai in Moscow. The results of contemporary research clearly demonstrate that the formation of the Turkic community took place in Altai. This is evidenced by materials from archaeological excavations of sites dating back to the 5th–6th centuries CE, a period preceding the establishment of the First Turkic Khaganate in 552). Equally important is the large number of Turkic monuments from the following century that have been discovered and studied in Altai. Furthermore, the tribes of the Rouran (pre-Turkic) period, which are archaeologically most prominent in the Altai region, played a significant role in the development of early medieval Turkic culture. Having spread across the vast territories of Northern and Central Eurasia, Turkic peoples and their descendants became involved in complex processes of ethnogenesis that led to the formation of modern peoples, including the Altai, Khakas, Tuvans, Yakuts, Tatars, Bashkirs, Chuvash, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Uyghurs, Uzbeks, Turkmens, Turks, and others. In addition to their linguistic kinship, many of these groups retain similarities across a range of cultural domains, such as economic practices, diet, clothing, beliefs, and rituals. A substantial part of Turkic ethnocultural heritage has common origins and continues to be preserved today, as documented by ethnographers at the Greater Altai Research and Educational Center for Altaic and Turkic Studies. Altai remains regarded as a historical ancestral homeland in the minds of many modern Turkic-speaking peoples. The photo exhibition opens on May 12, 2026. A presentation featuring archaeologists and ethnographers from Altai State University will take place on May 25 at 3:00 PM.