On 8 November 2005 representatives of St Petersburg including Plenipotentiary Representative of the Russian Federation President in the Northwest Federal District Ilya Klebanov and Director of the Hermitage Mikhail Piotrovsky were awarded commemorative medals "Celebrating the 1000th Anniversary of the Founding of Kazan" in a ceremony which took place in the Hermitage Theatre.

During the opening of the ceremony, the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Tatarstan in St Petersburg and the Leningrad Oblast Sh.K. Akhmetshin stressed that "the medal is awarded to those who have made a significant contribution to the socio-economic development of the city, as well as to the preparation of Kazan for the anniversary."

Commemorative medals "Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of Kazan" were also given to staff of the St Petersburg State University, the State Hermitage, the Russian National Library, the Russian Ethnographic Museum, the State Museum of the History of St Petersburg, the Military Historical Museum of the Artillery, Engineers and Signal Corps, the Mint, and the Leningrad Naval Base.

The following employees of the State Hermitage were awarded commemorative medals "Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of Kazan": Piotrovsky M.B., Bogdanov A.V., Matveev V.Y., Zalesskaya V.N., Zakharov N.I., Ivanov A.A., Korabelnikova L.A., Kramarovsky M.G., Lvova Z.A., Marshak B.I., Novikova O.G., Semenov G.D.

Presentation of the award to Plenipotentiary Representative of the RF President in the Northwest Federal District I.I. Klebanov

Presentation of the award to Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage

Presentation of the award to L.A. Korabelnikova, Director of the State Hermitage's Press Service