The State Hermitage Museum: Information

From Davos to Kizhi
What kind of managers do contemporary museums need?
Business breakfast in Rossiyskaya Gazeta
30 January 2013

Mikhail Piotrovsky has just returned from the Davos Forum ready to answer all of the questions posed by the readers and journalists of Rossiyskaya Gazeta. To begin with, we asked the director of the State Hermitage Museum and chairman of the Council of Museums of Russia to comment on the situation with the appointment of the new director of the Kizhi museum and conservation area.

Are you already aware of the public's ambivalent reaction, Mikhail Borisovich? In your opinion, does a contemporary museum need a manager or a professional museum specialist?

M. Piotrovsky: I have always said that a museum needs a scientist, not a manager, but that is my personal point of view. It is closer to the position of European museums. The American point of view is different. When it comes to Kizhi, a lot of important things are highlighted here. First. What we now call a manager was once called a "party official". People thought that a person who knows how to work with people knows how to do everything. But, as we know, it doesn't work that way, especially for things like museums. A museum is a very delicate and important thing. If you appoint a manager, then it has to be a very good one. It doesn't work if the manager is a businessman. We know Nelidov, thank god…
Second. When it comes to Kizhi. It's a UNESCO monument, a place where nothing can be built. Furthermore, it's a very effective museum. In 2011, the museum community named it the best museum in Russia. That was the expert council's decision. When it comes to the fact that there isn't a lot of tourists. We have to understand very clearly that an increase in the tourist flow will not support the preservation of the monument. They'll simply drown Kizhi. It is the most fragile monument in Russia. That is why, as soon as the scandal began, the Union of Museums defined its position and agreed with the Minister of Culture that we will precisely control every step connected with turning that museum/conversation area into a tourist Mecca, since there are ideas to that effect.

They say that the new director will be given a year-long probationary period.

M. Piotrovsky: That is the Ministry of Culture's decision. I read about the governor of Karelia's proposal to make changes to the charter of the Kizhi museum/conservation area to make it possible to select the director. The Union of Museums of Russia fully supports this idea. Of course, it is wonderful that people have risen in defence of the museum. 20 thousand signatures on the Internet. The fact that people are concerned about the preservation of the museum, that they are ready to fight for it gives me a lot of hope. We returned from the Davos forum, where the sharks of the financial world gathered.

How do those people feel about the presence of culture in the contemporary world?

M. Piotrovsky: Aside from the sharks of the financial world, the directors of the New York Metropolitan Museum, the British Museum, the Florence Opera, the director of all of the museums of Berlin, and the general director of the International Union of Museums were also there. At the Economics of Culture roundtable, we also discussed cultural projects that helped us to get through the crisis period. In our opinion, the Hermitage helped Petersburg to survive the crisis period, and the Great Hermitage project is helping Petersburg to be a global city, just as the Hermitage is a world museum. The director of the Florence Opera described an interesting experience. During the crisis, with the opera somewhat in the background, they bet not on guests coming to Florence, but on their own Italian public. There was a great story about an architect from Chicago that works… with the slums. German museum workers who invited him to work in Germany told us about him. Culture can be and is a foundation and resource for development, including economic development.

You can read the entire Business Breakfast with Mikhail Piotrovsky in upcoming issues of Rossiyskaya Gazeta

http://www.rg.ru/2013/01/30/davos.html