The Hermitage Days traditionally take place from 7-9 December. This is a time when the museum draws up preliminary conclusions regarding the year which is ending and shares with the public its plans for the coming year.

This year marked the 240th anniversary of the Hermitage's founding. There remains one decade till the 250th in 2014. Symbolically these days of festivities were preceded on 6 December by an internet chat with Director of the State Hermitage Mikhail Piotrovsky, who spoke about The Museum of the 21st Century: Initial Results. In his remarks, Professor Piotrovsky touched on the preparations for the 250th anniversary. On this same day the exhibition Faberge: Lost and Found, which features the collection of the Bond of Time Foundation, was presented to journalists.

On 7 December 2004, the birthday of the Hermitage and St Catherine's Day, a General Assembly of museum staff was convened. Then Mikhail Piotrovsky held a press conference in the Hermitage Theater and presented the latest important publications by the State Hermitage. These and many other books are available for inspection in an exhibition entitled The Hermitage in the World of Publications - 2004, which is situated in the foyer of the Hermitage Theater.

Representatives of the mass media were invited to stroll through the museum and see the exhibitions prepared for the Hermitage Days and the restored halls. They were acquainted with the newly improved Educational Computer Center and also with two reconstructed heating units for the hot air system in the Winter Palace. In the evening there was a festive opening ceremony for the Van Dyck Hall following the completion of restoration work and also the presentation of the artistic illumination of the Great Ceremonial Courtyard of the Winter Palace.

On 8 December 2004, the Day of Friends of the Hermitage, there was the opening of the exhibition Robert Mapplethorpe and the Classical Tradition: Photographs and Mannerist Prints, which was prepared jointly with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. Journalists were offered an informative trip to the Restoration and Storage Center in Staraya Derevnya. Meanwhile there was a special program for members of the International Club of the Friends of the Hermitage. Honorary diplomas and medals were handed out to sponsors in a ceremony which took place in the Hermitage Theater, after which there was a concert performed by the State Hermitage Orchestra.

On 9 December 2004, St George's Day, there was a solemn awards ceremony in the St George (Large Throne) Hall during which employees of the State Hermitage received state awards of the Russian Federation. The Director of the State Hermitage was the recipient of the "Order for Services to the Italian Republic". The order was presented by the Ambassador of the Italian Republic in the Russian Federation, Mr. Gian Franco Facco Bonetti. It was also announced that President of the Russian Republic Vladimir Putin has signed a decree conferring on Mikhail Piotrovsky the "Order for Services to the Fatherland”, 4th degree, for making a great contribution to the development of museums and for his many years of professional activity in the arts.

On this day there was also the opening of the exhibition For Faith and Loyalty. The History of the Capitulum of the Imperial and Tsarist Orders. This exhibition draws on the collections of the State Hermitage and the State Historical and Cultural Museum of the Moscow Kremlin. After a lengthy restoration, the Picket Hall was re-opened to the public. In the evening the Admiralty Orchestra performed a concert in the Hermitage Theater.

On 10 December, the last of the Hermitage Days, there were “Hermitage in Russia” Round Tables with participation by representatives of museums in Abakan, Novgorod, Irkutsk, Kemerovo, Novosibirsk, Ulan Ude, Ekaterinburg, Kazan, Kaliningrad, Sadekharda, Staraya Ladoga, and Ufa, as well as the Hermitage Centers and Friends of the Hermitage.

This year, in addition to its books and the Hermitage Magazine which comes out twice a year, a new publication was added: the newspaper News of the Hermitage, which will appear once per month in two languages and will inform both Russian and foreign guests of Petersburg who are interested in art and history about the varied museum events and plans, as well as about the people at the Hermitage who make us so proud.

The latest issue of the Hermitage Magazine is presented to journalists

At the Van Dyck Room

At the exhibition Robert Mapplethorpe and the Classical Tradition

A special program for members of the International Club of Friends of the Hermitage in the Hermitage Theater

At the awards ceremony in the St George (Large Throne) Hall

Hermitage Director Mikhail Piotrovsky receives to "Order for Services to the Italian Republic"

At the exhibition
For Faith and Loyalty

At the Great Courtyard of the Winter Palace