6 June, 2010 the Annual General Meeting of the Union of Russian Museums Takes Place in Moscow

The Union of Russian Museums was established in October, 2001 and it includes about 400 museum institutions from 72 regions of Russia. President of the Union of Russian Museums is M.B. Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage. In between the General Meetings the activity of the Union is guided by the Presidium. Within the framework of the Union of Russian Museums the Board of Representatives, facilitating general policy of the institution in the regions of the country, acts.

This year the attention of the museum community was focused on the issues of culture in transition of Russia to innovative models of development, maintenance of integrity and accessibility of the Museum Fund of the Russian Federation in conditions of "refinement of legal status of state (municipal) institutions", establishment of a constructive dialogue with the Russian Orthodox Church to seek a balanced solution for problems of museum and liturgical utilization of museum items of cultic origin.

The participants of the General Meeting once again confirm assurance of the museum community of the country in need of fundamental changes in approaches to generation of the state Russian cultural policy and national legislation on culture, which should be based on understanding of culture not like a complex of ineffective economic activities, placed in the same line with garbage removal and ceremonial services rendering but on understanding of art, culture and education in the sphere of arts and culture, aesthetic education as entirely specific types of social activity, solving the principal tasks of maintenance and development of Russian civilization.

The participants of the Meeting expressed their concern, that the absence of culture among national priorities, continuous slowdown of spending spree on culture and their rate in the expenditure budget, enormous gap in financing of education and culture, occurring in the recent years, character of budgetary and administrative reforms de facto directed against culture (especially in their regional aspects) have formed the situation when Russian culture, national cultural heritage, possessing unique potential of influence on the processes of public development and generation of a creative personality of our young fellow citizens, progressively losing practical abilities to accomplish this mission.

The museum community of the country is sure that it is impossible for the state to refuse direct responsibility for preservation of the whole cultural heritage of our country, especially of Museum, Archival, National Library Funds and it believes it is absolutely unacceptable to relate solution of these state tasks to "profitability" of this or that cultural institution, and furthermore, to transfer these concerns to visitors of museums, archives, libraries.

The museum in modern Russia is one of the most available (average cost of the ticket to the museum is less than 45 rubles) and the most visited cultural institution: in 2008 Russian museums were visited by more than 77million people (theaters - less than 30 millions, cinemas - about 45million, libraries - about 60 million people), notably, that attendance at the level of 70-80 million of people a year has been successfully kept by national museums for ten years.

The participants of the General Meeting of the Union of Russian Museums expressed a firm intention to establish and develop a constructive dialogue with religious associations of the country on the whole range of issues, related to utilization of objects of cultural heritage and museum items, having cultic origin.