The International Hermitage Friends’ Day

Celebrations to mark the 15th anniversary of the Friends of the Hermitage Club were held 8 December 2011. In 2011 the Friends of the Hermitage Club celebrated its 15th anniversary. The Hermitage was the first Russian museum to set up a Friends of the Museum society.

The Friends of the Hermitage Club includes individual and corporate members and has Russian and foreign members. The club also coordinates the work of Friends of the Hermitage groups in Holland, USA, Canada and Great Britain.

The 15th anniversary of the club is a clear sign of its success. During all these years the museum has made sure that the Friends are among the first to know about all important events in its life and that they are the first to visit new exhibitions and new exhibition spaces.

8 December is the International Day Friends of the Hermitage, the main event of the anniversary year where the Hermitage congratulated its friends on their 15th birthday. In the St George’s Hall in the Hermitage, Mikhail Piotrovsky welcomed and thanked the Friends of the Hermitage for their long loyalty to the museum and talked about some joint plans and projects. This year, a special celebratory program was organised for the evening’s guests, who came from all over the world. After an evening walk around the museum and temporary exhibitions, which were opened especially for the occasion, musical surprises, cocktails and special gifts awaited the guests.

The State Hermitage is proud of its friends, values their support and is always happy to see them in the museum.

Dutch Friends of the Hermitage Foundation at the exhibition A New Setting for Dutch Masters

At the exhibition Italian 19th Century Art. From Neoclassicism to Symbolism

Opening speech by the Hermitage director in the Great Throne Room

Evening walk around the museum

Svetlana Philippova, Head of the Friends of the Hermitage Club presents a booklet for the Club’s 15th anniversary

M. Piotrovsky presents Hermitage patrons with honorary diplomas