The State Hermitage Museum: Hermitage News

Volunteer Service celebrated its 5th anniversary with an interactive game

5 December 2008, on the International Volunteers Day a celebration devoted to the 5th anniversary of the Volunteer Service took place at the Hermitage. The celebration of the International Volunteers Day has become a traditional event within the frames of the Days of the Hermitage; however, this year's event was particularly special.

The celebrations began at the Repository of the State Hermitage in Staraya Derevnya, where the volunteers had an opportunity of being the first visitors of the new Restoration and Storage Centre. After the guided tour the volunteers took part in a festive tea-party and received souvenirs.

However, the culmination part of the festivities was an interactive game based on a series of famous films, such as "Star Wars", "Ice Age", "Indiana Jones", that was organised in the Winter Palace. The realquest "Evolution" at the International Volunteers Day became a city-level event supported by the Committee on Youth Affairs of St. Petersburg City Administration. Besides other organisations of the city, on that day the Hermitage gave the participants of the Quest an opportunity to feel what it is like to be a volunteer and to make good deeds.

The project involving competitions in the form of games at the Hemitage emerged from a close co-operation of the volunteers with the Department of Archaeology of Western Europe and Siberia. This project gives the youth a unique opportunity of revealing their enthusiasm and creative skills and is aimed at drawing attention to the volunteer movement at the museum and in the city, to the informal perception of the cultural heritage.

The new approach based on games has allowed people to look at the items behind the schowcase from a different perspective. The jocular form of the quest prompted the participants to show their wit and inventiveness. The results of this creative activity will be utilised when developing museum programmes and used in researches and in new projects of the Volunteer Service.