CONFERENCES XIII MAPRYAL CONGRESS ON “RUSSIAN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE IN THE SPACE OF WORLD CULTURE”, Granada, 13—20 September 2015 The XIII MAPRYAL Congress “Russian language and literature in the space of world culture” was held from September 13—20, 2015, in Granada, Spain. <...> The Congress was organized by the International Association of Russian Language and Literature Teachers (MAPRYAL) and the University of Granada (Spain), and saw the presence of more than 1200 teachers of Russian language, literature and culture from 60 countries. <...> This event takes place once every four years, and is the largest international forum for Russian-language philologists. <...> Participants included Russian language teachers working at all levels of learning, literary scholars, linguists, students and graduate students, publishers, public figures, journalists and all those working towards the study and popularisation of the Russian language. <...> The official opening ceremony took place on 15 September, in the Palacio de Congresos in Granada but many delegates had arrived earlier to register themselves for this grand event and enjoy the beauty of the city. <...> The Congress was opened by the Russian ambassador to Spain Yuri Korchagin, the President of MAPRYAL and Russkiy Mir Foundation Trustees Board Chairperson Lyudmila Verbitskaya and other dignitaries. <...> In her opening remarks Lyudmilla Verbitskaya heartily welcomed all the delegates and thanked them for assembling in such large numbers to discuss the role and future of Russian in today’s world. <...> His speech was punched with many funny anecdotes, making the audience laugh and clap in appreciation. <...> Co-chairperson of the organising committee for the forum, Rafael Guzman Tirado, recalled the importance of the city of Granada for Russian-language teachers and said that the city is the centre of Russian-language teaching in Spain. 195 Russian Journal of Linguistics, Vestnik RUDN, 2015, N. 4 speakers. <...> The opening ceremony was followed by the Plenary with presentations by three In her plenary speech entitled “The role of language in society”, Lyudmila Verbitskaya lay emphasis on the importance of language in the lives of people not only as a means of everyday communication but also as a preserver of culture and values. <...> Lyudmila Verbitskaya also made a special mention on the active role that the Russki Mir Foundation has been playing not only in providing support to foreign teachers of Russian Language to enhance <...>