From 18 to 25 June 2005 the American Friends of the Hermitage are making their regular annual visit to St Petersburg. The objective of the visit is to get better acquainted with the Hermitage, with St Petersburg, and with Russian culture. A special program has been prepared for the American Friends, including visits to the architectural and historical monuments of Petersburg and its suburbs.

The State Hermitage has offered its American Friends a special program entitled Monday in the Hermitage (20 June), which is a unique opportunity to visit the museum on a day when it is normally closed to the public. Museum director Mikhail Piotrovsky personally greeted the American Friends in the Hermitage Theatre. The visitors were taken around the museum on a guided tour during which the Peacock clock was shown in operation and the Laboratory for Expert Restoration of Easel Paintings was visited. The American Friends of the Hermitage also visited the museum in evening hours, when they were taken to see the collections held in the galleries of jewelry and precious stones and heard a concert for string instruments in one of the halls displaying ancient art.

At the Pavilion Hall