Continuation of the Hermitage in Siberia Program

The exhibition Traditions of Antiquity in Western European Art from the Hermitage collection opened in Irkutsk on 20 January 2004 within the framework of a long-term program called the Hermitage in Siberia. The program features a series of thematic exhibitions of art works from the museum collection.

The Hermitage in Siberia project is managed by the State Hermitage together with the Bazovy Element company with the support of the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Siberian federal okrug and the governors of the regions.

Beginning in 2003 and for a period of 5 to 6 years, items from the State Hermitage Museum collection are being exhibited in all the major Siberian cities. The first exhibition, which was devoted to the works of Western European artists of the 18 –19th centuries, took place in Novosibirsk.

The residents of Irkutsk now are offered an exhibition devoted to the traditions of antiquity in the art of Western Europe. The exhibition consists of 116 display items and is divided into three sections: the art of the fourth century B.C. to the third century A.D. (black-figure and red-figure vases of the fifth and fourth centuries B.C., ceramics, Hellenistic period bronze statuettes and sculpture); the Western European decorative and applied arts of the 16th-19th centuries (carved ivory from Germany, French decorative bronzes, 18th century porcelain, fabrics); and also paintings by 18th century Western European masters based on motifs from ancient mythology.

Members of the State Hermitage’s orchestra, The St.Petersburg Camerata, participated in the exhibition opening events. Lectures on the State Hermitage collection will be given in Irkutsk in the framework of the exhibition opening. The first lecture will be delivered by Mikhail B. Piotrovsky, the museum director.

In addition there will be screenings in Siberia of films by the well-known Russian director Alexander Sokurov, including his Russian Ark, which recorded the Hermitage filled with personages from the city’s 300 year history.

The exhibition in Irkutsk will last from 20 January until 4 April.

On the same day, 20 January, an exhibition of graphics, paintings and photography also opened in Irkutsk: Decembrist Memorabilia from the Hermitage Collection. The collection contains portraits of the Decembrists and their relatives, as well as views of St.Petersburg and Siberia that are connected with the rebellion of 1825. This unique exhibition is a tribute to the memory of the best people of Russia of their time. It was organized by the State Hermitage, the V.P. Sukachev Art Museum of the Irkutsk Oblast and the Irkutsk Oblast Historical and Memorial Museum of the Decembrists with sponsorship support from JTI.