The State Hermitage Museum: Hermitage News

"Golden Section": the Newspaper of the Hermitage Student Club

In March 2004 “Golden Section’, the first printed issue of a newspaper by the Hermitage Student Club appeared. The creators of the newspaper are students in the various sections of the club. Articles, reviews, interviews, and comments submitted by the sections underwent a rigorous selection by the editorial board of the newspaper and the pre-press version of the first issue prepared by editor Liliana Angeluts with participation by editor-in-chief Ekaterina Simanovich was the result of serious work. The student newspaper is written for young people who are interested in the most diverse issues relating to museum life, to our city, to both the distant past and recent history.

The first issue already set out a regular feature of the paper called “Our Club”, in which the Petersburg section and the French Club section introduced themselves.
Student reviews of the Hermitage showing of video arts and the film festival of Italian silent movies from the start of the 20th century appear under the heading "What I have seen". Here we see serious attempts at making sense of "eternal subjects" in the art of modern days and of the unfading importance of the category of humanity for all art and all time.

Journalism appears in a review article on page one dealing with the Hermitage exhibition "St. Petersburg in Photographs of the 1840s - 1920s " and under the heading “Extracurricular Reading”, in which volunteer students share their impressions about how the museum functioned during the days and months of the celebration of St Petersburg’s 300th jubilee.
A small feature article called “Profession” provides an interview with director of the Hermitage’s Internet Cafe, L. Yu. Soldatenko.

On 16 April 2004 the second issue of the newspaper "Golden Section" appeared. Page one prints the story of a long-awaited event: an "Artistic Workshop" section began working in the Student Club. It is open to anyone who wishes to enter, whether or not they have had an artistic education. The article is illustrated with drawings by artists who are just starting out.

Under the heading "Our Club" we are introduced to the section "Landmarks" and read an entertaining story about the big trip of this section to Italy. Here we find remarks about the recently opened mediatheque of the Youth Center in the General Staff building and we learn about the unusual way it has been equipped.

The heading "What I saw" helps to round out a small tour of rooms of the Hermitage that are not frequently open to the public and to become acquainted with the rare oriental collection of the museum. In addition we "take a stroll" through lanes of old Tallinn.

This issue gives space to a poetry column for new authors and also lets us go by ourselves around our favorite city with camera and notebook in hand. One of the most vivid exhibition events of recent years in the Hermitage was the archeological exhibition "Arzhan II", which is described in the article "Things and Time" as cause for serious reflection on man today. Continuing our acquaintance with the Hermitage from the inside, we are informed by the article under the heading "Profession" about the work of a museum supervisor.