On 21 January 2005 Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage, and Albert Helms, Director of OOO "Renaissance St Petersburg Hotel Leasing," signed an Agreement on possibilities for cooperation in the preparation and implementation of informational support to museum activities. The objective of this cooperation is to assist the development of the State Hermitage's international cultural activity, and also the development of the museum program called the Friends of the Hermitage.

The partnership will entail preparing and implementing a program of informational support to museum activities, including exhibitions organized in the State Hermitage and abroad. In order for these aims to be achieved, the State Hermitage confers on the Renaissance St. Petersburg Baltic Hotel the status of Official Partner of the State Hermitage.

The Agreement was signed in the Renaissance Hotel, which is located on Pochtamtskaya Street, 4 in St Petersburg. It provides for special room rates to be extended to official guests of the State Hermitage staying in the Renaissance Hotel, as well as to members of the Friends of the Hermitage and to members of the Friends' Societies of the Hermitage abroad. Other elements of the Agreement include arrangements for hotel guests to reserve entrance tickets to the State Hermitage via the internet and the organization of special programs by the State Hermitage on the hotel premises with the hotel's participation.

One of the first concrete results will be that the hotel is now authorized to reproduce the logotype of the State Hermitage and images from the collections of the State Hermitage on its key cards.

There are also plans for joint preparation and implementation of a program of informational support to the activities of the State Hermitage's branch museums abroad (in Las Vegas, USA; in Amsterdam, The Netherlands; in London, United Kingdom) and to promote the temporary exhibitions organized by the State Hermitage abroad.