Presentation of Government Awards

17 August 2009, the ceremonial presentation of high government awards took place in the Hermitage • Amsterdam centre at the exhibition At the Russian Court from the collection of the State Hermitage Museum. The awards were presented to those who were the originators of the biggest cultural project between Russia and the Netherlands.

Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage Museum, was presented the highest state award of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to foreign nationals - the Silver Medal of Amsterdam. This award is conferred to people who proved themselves in different fields of activity directed at the development of the city of Amsterdam. When presenting the award Job Cohen, Mayor of Amsterdam, noted the personal merits of Mikhail Piotrovsky in the sphere of popularisation of Amsterdam.

By the order of Dmitry Medvedev, President of the Russian Federation, K. G. Gevorgyan, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Netherlands, presented the Order of Friendship to Ernst Veen, Director of the Hermitage • Amsterdam centre, and Theo Bremer, President of the Hermitage-on-the-Amstel Foundation (the managed Fund of the Hermitage • Amsterdam centre), a noted lawyer in the field of culture. The awards were presented for strengthening cultural relations between Russia and the Netherlands.

Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage Museum, and Job Cohen, Mayor of Amsterdam

Kirill Gevorgyan, Theo Bremer, Ernst Veen, Mikhail Piotrovsky

Ernst Veen and Kirill Gevorgyan