On April 25, the first scientific and practical conference of the United Memorial Museum-Reserve of Yuri Gagarin was held in Gagarin, Smolensk region (formerly Gzhatsk). At the plenary part of the conference the head of the Centre for Regional Programs of Social and Cultural Development Pavel Shulgin and the leading expert of the Centre Olga Shtele presented a joint report on the topic "Experience in using cultural heritage in historical rural settlements".