Meeting of the Public Chamber under the President of the Russian Federation
Programme on Preservation of the Museum Fund of Russia

29 September 2009, a joint meeting of Spiritual Heritage Committee and Culture Committee of the Public Chamber under the President of the Russian Federation took place in Moscow. Metropolitan Kliment and Director of Mosfilm Karen Shakhnazarov chaired the meeting.

Director of the State Hermitage and President of the Museum Union Mikhail Piotrovsky and Director of the Museum of Fine Arts of the Republic of Karelia Natalia Vavilova made presentations. Recommendations on improvement of work with museum funds addressed to the state authorities were adopted at the meeting where the members of the Presidium of the Museum Union of Russia also took part.

Discussions were based on preliminary results of the conducted federal inspection of the museum fund. The following was emphasized - the necessity of construction of new fund storage premises, special attention towards the funds and their storage conditions, new scientific and technical and informational methods for working with them, the necessity of change in the legislation that should provide for the special status of museums and exhibits, protect from possible encroachments on their state inviolability including privatization attempts.

Growth of activity of civil society in the sphere of culture was pointed out as a positive factor of public dialogue. Positive tendency was also an integration of efforts of the State Duma, the Council of Federation, the Public Chamber, the Council for Culture under the President of the Russian Federation, the Museum Union of Russia in the development of strategy fundamentals of culture policy. Developed Strategy of Development of Museum Affairs of Russia and Programme on Preservation of the Museum Fund of Russia were approved.