The International Congress Art museums and preservation of the common cultural space of CIS and Baltic Countries

9 September 2010 the Congress of national art museums of neighbor countries located within the former Soviet Union was opened at the Hermitage Theater. In this forum intended to improve the international cultural cooperation among the participants are heads of national art museums of 14 countries, as well as heads of more than 10 largest Russian museums and representatives of Russian federal cultural authorities.

Among the congress organizers are the State Hermitage, The Union of Museums of Russia, the Likhachev Foundation with the support of the Interstate Foundation of Humanitarian Cooperation of CIS Member-States and the Committee of Culture for St Petersburg.

Art museums are one of the key segments in the scientific educational and humanitarian field. They are largely responsible for the preservation of the national cultural identity and the cultural integration of nations. The development of the international cooperation in this field will facilitate the preservation of the national cultural heritage of neighbour countries; intensify their cultural, social and economic development.

The social and cultural mobility growing in recent years, the accelerated development of informational technologies offer new prospects for the implementation of intermuseum projects and bring hope for the improvement of mutually beneficial cooperation in the museum field.

The practical result of the congress should be the discussion of the programs of cooperation in the exhibition, scientific, informational, publishing and public activities.

The congress agenda:

• Current state and strategy for the development of national art museums. Combining the global, national, Russian and Soviet art in the museum space.
• Prospects of the intermuseum exhibition exchange, organization of museum branches, temporary and long-term expositions.
• Improving the access to the cultural heritage through the development of informational technologies.
• Prospects of integration of museums’ informational resources. Interaction in the scientific research field, preparation of professional personnel, development of the museum affairs.

At the presidium: Alla Manilova, Vice-Governor of St Petersburg; Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage Museum; Daniil Granin, writer

Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage Museum

Alla Manilova, Vice-Governor of St Petersburg

Daniil Granin, writer

The congress participants at the hall of the Hermitage Theater