10 Years of Cooperation between Samsung Electronics and the State Hermitage

On 1 June 2006 the State Hermitage and Samsung Electronics signed a contract providing the museum with a grant for the period 2006-2007. This season marked the 10th anniversary of cooperation between the world famous Russian museum and one of the largest high tech companies. Samsung is especially attentive to the preservation of rare works of art for future generations and offers the museum assistance in the technical area.

Within the framework of the new charitable project, equipment will be installed in the Youth Education Center, a new entrance zone in the Winter Palace and a Tour Office for the Hermitage. Samsung will provide the museum with computer equipment and technical support. It is no coincidence that special attention has been given to the Youth Center, which was created for those studying in secondary schools and institutions of higher learning, for those attending lectures in the Hermitage auditorium and also for museum workers, that is to say for people who account for the present and future of Russian culture. Its media center has on offer an extensive choice of entertaining video resources on history, the culture of foreign countries and individual masters and works of art, as well as encyclopedic materials from various fields of science. The Company's assistance will make each visit to the Youth Center still more interesting and thereby will add to the ranks of devotees of art. In the future there are plans to use the Center as the basis for creating a system of remote learning and correspondence courses.

The technical support provided by Samsung Electronics makes it possible to substantially expand the educational facilities of the Hermitage and to raise the level of public interest in works of art.

As Director of the State Hermitage Mikhail Piotrovsky remarked, "Our partnership with Samsung is a splendid example of how the common efforts of business and people in the arts serve a single goal - the development of Russian culture."

"It is a great honor for us to be part of the preservation of monuments of world art," says Vice President of the Samsung Electronics Headquarters for the countries of the CIS and Baltic States Mr. Lim San Hon. "I am certain that a careful and attentive approach to cultural heritage makes society spiritually and intellectually richer."

Beginning on 1 June 2006, the State Hermitage and Samsung Electronics will begin working on one further project - the restoration of Empress Catherine the Great's unique musical clock in the museum collection. After its restoration, visitors to the Hermitage will be able to see a masterpiece which served as an object of delight and pride more than 200 years ago. This rare clock was manufactured in England in 1792 by the master clockmaker Eardley Norton and the company Gravell & Tolkein at the behest of Catherine II for her palace apartments. It is worth noting that the Empress not only made sketches of how the clock should look but also personally chose the melodies for the organ clock. The restoration will be carried out by masters of the State Hermitage and the Special Scientific Restoration Workshops of the State Hermitage. The specialists will first restore the clock cabinet and then the clock movement and the musical mechanism. Among the most complex and demanding stages will be a computer decryption of the melodies on the musical drum which will make it possible to hear the music before the restoration work is completed and will guide the tuning of the organ, which for many years has remained silent.

Samsung Electronics takes an active part in the social, cultural and sporting life of Russia. The Company is a partner of the State Hermitage, the State Academic Bolshoy Theatre and the Union of Journalists of Russia. Samsung Electronics is a World Olympics partner, general partner of the Olympics Committee of Russia and for many years has sponsored the Dynamo hockey team. Each year the Company organizes a Running Festival in Moscow, St Petersburg and other major Russian cities.