On 28 September 2006, the festive opening of the fifth season of Dutch Salons took place in the Menshikov Palace, which is part of the State Hermitage museum complex. It is included in the program of the annual festival of Dutch culture called Window on the Netherlands that is held by the Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in St Petersburg.

Visitors were made acquainted with a mini-exhibition entitled The 17th Century Bouquet from the collection of the Mauritshuis Musuem in the Hague and heard a lecture by the museum's curator Epko Runia (the Netherlands) about "Multicolored 'Treasures': flowers and the fine arts in 17th century Holland."

The Dutch Salons are monthly gatherings in the museum of Hermitage specialists, Petersburg scholars and guests from the Netherlands. The program of Dutch Salons provides information about the history and culture of Holland and Belgium, evenings of poetry readings and music and the viewing of video films.

The originator of the idea and the director of the salon events is senior researcher of the State Hermitage Alla Kamchatova. The Dutch Institute in St Petersburg (Lyudmila Chevalier, Director) supports and participates in the program.

Lectures on Dutch culture and heritage take place in the Menshikov Palace. The year 2006 was designated as the "Year of Rembrandt." Part of the fifth lecture series of Dutch Salons has been dedicated to this Dutch master.

For more information about the program of the Dutch Salons:
http://www.nispb.ru/research/salon5.html

At the festive opening of the fifth season of Dutch Salons

At the lecture by the Mauritshuis Musuem's curator Epko Runia

D-r Epko Runia, Mauritshuis Musuem's curator

Sergey Yevtushenko, composer and director of the Hermitage Music Academy Foundation and the Hermitage Orchestra