International Conference CIDOC/ADIT 2003

On 5 September, 2003, the Hermitage Theater hosted the annual conference CIDOC/ADIT 2003 organized in St. Petersburg by the Comite International pour la Documentation (CIDOC), the Russian Committee of the International Council of Museums (ICOM of Russia) and the Association for the Documentation and Information Technologies, with the financial support of the Culture Ministry of the Russian Federation. The CIDOC conference, held in Russia for the first time, was dedicated to “The Electronic Potential of a Museum: Incentives and Limitations, Achievements and Problems”.

CIDOC is the largest, the most dynamic and important committee of the International Council of Museums (ICOM, created by the UNESCO in 1946). Annual CIDOC conferences are major fora attracting professionals in the fields of museums, digital technologies and their uses in museum work, representatives of the leading international fine arts projects, and producers of special software, information systems and equipment from 100 countries of the world hailing from all five continent.

ADIT is a Russian association of museum professionals who apply their efforts to creating electronic resources and presenting museum information on the Internet.

The conference was held in the White Hall of the Marble Palace (State Russian Museum) and the Hermitage Theater (State Hermitage Museum). The Museums of Peterhof and Tsarskoye Selo also took part in the extensive program. Their world-famous palaces and parks along with the masterpieces of national art from the Russian Museum and the unique Hermitage collections of Western art showed the guests the culture treasures of St. Petersburg and Russia and the potential of cooperating for the purpose of preserving this heritage and seeking the ways of cultural integration.

The Conference included introductory and educational seminars in the museum applications of information systems and technologies, presentations dealing with the latest achievements and projects, and discussions of future developments attended by Russian and foreign professionals.

(Materials taken from sites www.museum.ru and cidoc2003.adit.ru)

Mikhail B. Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage Museum, making presentation

The conference in the Hermitage Theatre

At the conference