Director of the State Hermitage Mikhail B. Piotrovsky is awarded the Alexander Gorchakov Silver Medal

On 10 February 2004 Director of the State Hermitage Mikhail B. Piotrovsky was awarded the Alexander Gorchakov Silver Medal, which is named after the outstanding 19th century Russian statesman and diplomat. The award is made for work in strengthening the idea of Russian statehood and for true service to the Fatherland.

"The art of diplomacy today has more than a strictly professional side to it. Professionals can hardly imagine doing their job without the benefit of society’s diplomacy". These were the words delivered by Evgeny I. Makarov, deputy of the Russian Federation President’s plenipotentiary representative in the NorthWest Federal District, during the award ceremony of the A.M. Gorchakov Foundation. He went on to say that diplomatic work at the level of so-called ‘people’s diplomacy’ goes on every day. A significant event in this work was the 300th anniversary celebration of the city. A.M. Gorchakov Silver Medals were given out to 10 public figures and diplomats from Russia and abroad. Among the recipients were St Petersburg Governor Valentina I. Matvienko, Chancellor of the St Petersburg State University Ludmila A. Verbitskaya, General Consul of the Hungarian Republic in St Petersburg Erne Keszken, and General Consul of Great Britain Barbara Hay.