The opening in Krasnodar of an exhibition of works from the State Hermitage collection within the framework of the "Hermitage to the South of Russia" Program

On 23 September 2005 a new cultural and educational program entitled "The Hermitage to the South of Russia" had its festive opening in the city of Krasnodar. This program is a logical extension of the large-scale and long-term project of "the Hermitage in Siberia" which the State Hermitage has been implementing with support from the Basic Element Company.

In the days just preceding the main events in Krasnodar, Novorossiisk and Ust-Labinsk, there were highly successful concerts by the Hermitage Orchestra, whose general manager is the director of the Hermitage Academy of Music Foundation Sergey Yevtushenko. Mikhail Sinkievich, from the Mariinsky Theater, conducted the orchestra and the featured soloists were Yelena Gorshunova and Dmitry Voropaev, also from the Mariinsky, both laureates of international competitions.

On 22 September cinema director Alexander Sokurov presented to the Krasnodar public his film Russian Ark, which is devoted to the Hermitage and was created within the museum premises.

On the following day, Alexander Sokurov and Director of the State Hermitage Mikhail Piotrovsky met with representatives of the artistic and the intellectual community of Krasnodar.

The main event on 23 September was the opening of the exhibition The World of Heroes. Myth and Reality. Works of Art from Antiquity and Western Europe from the Collection of the State Hermitage. The curators are staff of the Hermitage’s Department of Western European Art, A.A. Babin, S.K. Savvateev and I.D. Arsentiev, as well as an employee of the Department of the Ancient World, D.P. Aleksinsky. The exhibition is situated in the F.A. Kovalenko Krasnodar Krai Art Museum and will run until 11 December, then move to Stavropol.

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