New Joint Event of the State Hermitage Museum and the Mariinsky Theater in Veliky Novgorod

On 28 August, 2003, in Veliky Novgorod took place a new joint event of the State Hermitage Museum and the Mariinsky Theater. The exhibition "St. Alexander Nevsky: The Holy Patron of St. Petersburg" was opened in the Museum of Fine Arts, and an open-air concert was presented by the Mariinsky Theater. These events were the gift to Veliky Novgorod from St. Petersburg on the occasion of the latter city’s 300th anniversary.

Exhibits for the show were loaned by the Hermitage and the Novgorod Museum. Citizens and guests of Veliky Novgorod will see ancient icons, icon settings of the 12th century, personal seals of Alexander Nevsky and engravings of the 18th and 19th centuries associated with him.

The Mariinsky Symphony Orchestra and Choir conducted by Valery Gergiyev performed Sergey Prokofyev’s cantata "Alexander Nevsky" and Sergey Rakhmaninov’s selected works. The concert was given in the Novgorod Kremlin between the Sophia Cathedral and the Monument to the Millenium of Russia.