The Hermitage-2008 in the World of Publications

During the Days of the Hermitage the Foyer of the Hermitage Theatre holds a traditional exhibition telling about the scientific and exhibition activity of the museum in this year. In 2008 more than forty books and brochures were published. As usual, the publishing activity reflects all the major fields of the work of the museum: research and scientific, exhibition and educational activity.

The largest part of the publications of every museum is catalogues. The Hermitage publishes two types of catalogues: collection catalogues and temporary exhibition catalogues. The former contain the complete information on the collections of the Hermitage oriented towards specialists. The temporary exhibition catalogues, as opposed to the collection catalogues, are not devoted to the collection itself, but rather to the idea and concept of the exhibition.

The museum declared the year 2008 as the year of Boris Piotrovsky, and many books that were published in 2008 were devoted to him. Among them one can mention the catalogue of the exhibition “Boris Borisovich Piotrovsky”. 100th Anniversary of Birth” and the book “Boris Borisovich Piotrovsky. Biographic materials from the series “The Keeper”.

For the first time in the history of our museum the English version of the “Announcements of the State Hermitage” was published. It is an annual publication containing articles on the authentication and the history of the works of art exhibited at the museum, the history and the collections of the Hermitage. Starting from now on it will be published in two volumes: in the Russian and in the English language. "Announcements" - 2008 are devoted to the 100th anniversary of the birth of Boris Piotrovsky.

The State Hermitage continues to publish monographs, collections of scientific articles as well as materials from the conferences.

One of the major fields of the publishing activity of the museum still remains popular-scientific literature.