3 December 2008, the Association of Non-Governmental Organisations "Bolshaya Medveditsa" together with the State Hermitage organised the event called "The Hermitage gathers friends" devoted to the International Day of Disabled Persons.
The event was timed to coincide with the Days of the Hermitage 2008.

250 children and their parents were invited to the State Hermitage on this occasion. Some of them were patients of a children's hospice, the rehabilitation department for patients with oncological diseases of the multi-purpose sanatorium "Solnechnoye", orphanage for disabled children "Krasnye Zori" (Peterhof), pupils of school No. 616 "Dynamics" for handicapped children, as well as children from orphanage No. 7 for children with mental retardation.

The participants of the event were greeted by the deputy director of the State Hermitage Vladimir Matveev and the chairman of the Association of Non-Governmental organisations "Bolshaya Medveditsa" Alexandr Zimin.

The programme of the event included a tour around the halls of the State Hermitage, a concert in the Hermitage Theatre with ballet dancers from the State Academic Mariinsky Theatre, the Mikhailovsky Classical Ballet and Opera Theatre and the State Academic Ballet Theatre headed by Boris Eifman.

At the end of the event the children received presents in the Foyer of the Hermitage Theatre.

Vladimir Matveev, Deputy Director of the State Hermitage Museum

Alexander Zimin, chairman of the Association of Non-Governmental Organisations "Bolshaya Medveditsa"

On the stage of the Hermitage Theatre

The giving of presents

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