The State Hermitage Museum: Hermitage News

Hermitage Days 2007

This year the Hermitage Days were held from 3 to 9 December. The museum summarizes the year and shares its plans for the New Year.

3 December

The celebrative week began with an Internet-meeting with the director of the State Hermitage Museum, Mikhail Piotrovsky. The main themes of the meeting were Programme Hermitage 20/21: the First Exhibition, Preparations to Celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Academician Boris Borisovich Piotrovsky and The Hermitage Centres: New Ideas for Development.

On this day there was also a general gathering for the volunteers at the State Hermitage Museum.

5 December

A fact-finding tour was held for journalists at the restoration and preservation centre Staraya Derevnya, where they saw the opening of frescoes and icons from the Department of Russian Culture, sculptures from the Department of Western European Art and a fragment from a pavilion from the Oriental Department.

In the conference hall of the Scientific Council the director of the State Hermitage Museum gave a presentation of the most interesting State Hermitage publications for 2007.

7 December

For the State Hermitage Museum's birthday, St. Catherine's Day, a general gathering of museum employees was held in the Hermitage Theatre, followed by a press conference for journalists, held by Mikhail Piotrovsky.

The traditional press walk about the museum included an examination of the exhibitions The Hermitage in the World of Publications 2007, The Hermitage in Photographs 2007, Lorenzo Lotto: Madonna della Grazie, Îtium Ludens: Ancient Frescoes from Stabia, the official opening for the public was held that very day; new expositions in the Caucasian and the Bosphorus Halls were likewise included in the walk as were the artistic parquets in the Michelangelo Hall and Alexander Hall. The journalists were shown the capabilities of the lighting equipment of the Hermitage Theatre. The walk was concluded with a summary of the work of the Internet cafe.

In the Caucasian Halls there was an opening ceremony of the exhibitions Moshchevaya Balka: A Monument to the North Caucasian Silk Road and The Golden Horde: History and Culture.

An awards ceremony was held at the Hermitage Theatre for awarding museum employees with grants from the Vladimir Potanin Charitable Foundation.

A concert dedicated to the opening of the Otium Ludens Ancient Frescoes from Stabia concluded the day's programme.

8 December

On the day for the Friends of the Hermitage the exhibition Lorenzo Lotto: Madonna della Grazie was opened and new exhibits were presented. The Alexander Hall was opened to the public having been newly restored.

In the Grand Courtyard of the Winter Palace the Ice Assembly from the Art Studio of the State Hermitage Museum was held as part of The Kingdom of the Snow Queen in the Winter Palace. The finals of the competition were held in the evening of the same day.

An evening of Friends of the Hermitage concluded the day.

9 December

For St. George's Day in the Grand Throne Room of the Winter Palace an awards ceremony was held by the President of the Russian Federation.

In the evening at the Hermitage Theatre the Eight International Festival of Admiralty Music was opened. The Admiralty Orchestra of the Leningrad Naval Base conducted by the honoured Russian Artist, Captain Alexei Karabanov performed a concert programme The Music of the Heart, dedicated to the 85th birthday of Vartan Mikhailovich Barsegyan.