From 18 - 21 October 2005, the State Hermitage hosted an international conference entitled The Russian Imperial Court and Europe. Dialogues between Cultures. Among the participants were leading specialists from France, Italy, Sweden and Russia, as well as research staff from the State Hermitage and other St Petersburg museums.

State Hermitage Director Mikhail Piotrovsky delivered a welcoming speech to conference participants on the day of the opening.

The reports presented at the conference touched upon a broad range of issues and various aspects of life at the Imperial Court. At the conclusion a round table discussion was held at which agreement was reached on future collaboration and on holding another conference on the same topic next year.

Extracts of the reports in Russian

At the conference