|
|
|
|
|
|
|
   The Director of the Hermitage,
Mikhail Piotrovsky, called a prayer recently held in the museum by Orthodox
activists a provocation Four young activists held an event in which they demanded that the family chapel in the Winter Palace be transferred to the Russian Orthodox Church. Mikhail Piotrovsky is not inclined to consider this event a prayer. “We call it a flash mob,” said the Director of the Hermitage in an interview with Echo of Petersburg. “It is an obvious act of provocation,” added Piotrovsky: “Some people imitate prayer, others film it with a camera and obviously provoke security to use force,” he said. This action, which, as is traditional, they wanted to get on video, was accompanied by a small conflict with security: one of the guards demanded that the video recording be stopped, despite the fact that they had received the appropriate permission. “Our colleagues from the security service explain to them that this contradicts the rules of the Hermitage. The rules of the Hermitage are quite clear: events not related to the museum’s primary activities, events that are not directed toward the study of exhibit items and learning about the museum’s collections, may only take place with the permission of the office of the Director of the Hermitage,” said Piotrovsky. The last time a prayer was held at the Hermitage, about 60 people participated. No one prevented them from conducting it then. The Director of the Hermitage said that in the future, enthusiasts of “flash mobs” of this sort will be handed over to the police. http://www.echomsk.spb.ru/news/istoricheskiy-tsentr/provokatsiey-moleben-ermitag.html |
||||
Copyright © 2011 State Hermitage Museum |
