Cooperation of the State Hermitage Museum and Samsung Electronics

On 23 March 2011 the State Hermitage and Samsung Electronics announced the completion of another phase of cooperation which was started in 1997 and the transition of technical partnership of the company and the museum to a new level - to cooperation in the field of innovative technologies.

Currently, the Entrance Area of the Hermitage, the Grande Parade Courtyard of the Winter Palace, ticket boxes of the Tour Bureau have multimedia stands with Samsung information displays with the aid of which museum visitors can learn about the working hours and the cost of tickets; get information about tours; departments of the museum; Friends’ Club of the Hermitage; temporary exhibitions. Halls of the main complex of the museum, temporary exhibitions, as well as the Winter Palace of Peter I and the Menshikov Palace have Samsung plasma and LED panels with educational programs.

Samsung information displays using new energy-saving LED backlight technology LED BLU (Back Light UNIT) provide up to 40% of energy savings compared to conventional information displays.

In addition, the company and the State Hermitage began to develop a widget-based application for next-generation Samsung SmartTV television sets. The Hermitage widget will be available to users with the ability to connect modern Samsung TV to the Internet. With the new service a lot of people will have easy and convenient access to a wide range of various information about the Hermitage and its collections of masterpieces directly on the TV screen.

In 2010, within the framework of a joint restoration project by Samsung and the State Hermitage, Linking Times - Linking Technologies, works of restoring floor-based musical clocks made in the studio of Roentgen and Kinzig in Germany in 1780s were completed. To date, about ten copies of this clock model have survived in the world. The unique mechanism is a result of joint work of four leading experts in the field of applied art of the late 18th century: cabinet maker David Roentgen, clock maker Peter Kinzig, organ master Johann Weill, and bronze maker Francois Remo'n. After completion of restoration the Hermitage received the first in Russia operating copy of a similar clock included in the museum’s permanent exposition.

"New technology of our time helps to revive the finest technology of the past. Samsung and the Hermitage establish the connection of times and remind everyone about the continuity of human civilization", said Mikhail Piotrovsky, director of the State Hermitage.

"Modern technology allows to make works of art accessible to everyone. It is due to careful attention to the cultural heritage that we become spiritually richer, and the use of innovative technology enables more and more people to enjoy the masterpieces of past centuries", says Lim Suk Il, head of Samsung Electronics office in St Petersburg.

For more than 13 years of collaboration between the State Hermitage and Samsung Electronics within the framework of the project Linking Times - Linking Technologies a technical assistance program of educational, scientific and tour activities of the museum has been implemented, the entrance area of the Hermitage has been refurbished, the historical Council Hall has been restored, several unique mechanisms of the past have been restored: a large floor-based clock with an organ that belonged to the Russian Empress Catherine II (England, 1792) and a wall-based clock with a musical mechanism made by James Cox (1760), the author of the famous Peacock clock.

At a press conference

Sergey Kostyukov, Deputy Head of Samsung Electronics Rus office in St Petersburg

Floor-based musical clock
Germany
1780s
Workshop of Roentgen and Kinzig

Watching a movie in 3D format on restoration of clocks and musical mechanisms

Oleg Zinatullin, restorer