First Meeting of the Steering Committee to organize and hold Celebrations for the 250th Anniversary of the State Hermitage

On 21 September 2011 the first meeting of the Steering Committee to organize and hold celebrations for the 250th anniversary of the Hermitage was held at the State Hermitage.

The meeting was attended by: Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation and Chairman of the Steering Committee Dmitry Kozak, Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Alexander Avdeev, Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation Alexandra Levitskaya, State Secretary and Deputy Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation Nikolai Pankov, Governor of Saint Petersburg Georgy Poltavchenko, Director of the State Hermitage Mikhail Piotrovsky, Deputy Director of the State Hermitage Georgy Vilinbakhov and other members of the Steering Committee .

Mikhail Piotrovsky presented D. Kozak and A. Avdeev the results of the restoration of the first stage of the Eastern Wing of the General Staff Building, restoration projects of the Peter the Great (Small Throne) Room, the creation of a state-of-the-art exhibition complex in the Small Hermitage and interim results of the restoration of the Hanging Garden.

Members of the Steering Committee visited the Staraya Derevnya Restoration and Storage Centre, where they looked at the work of the Laboratory for Scientific Restoration of Easel Oil Paintings and the Open Storage exhibitions and other parts of the complex.

The Steering Committee approved the plan for the main events for preparing and holding celebrations for the 250th anniversary of the Hermitage. About 12 billion roubles were allocated from the federal budget for this purpose.

On the order of the Steering Committee the Hermitage set about developing a detailed schedule for implementing these events.

The Steering Committee also considered and approved the draft Charter of the State Hermitage. According to the draft, the status of the Hermitage will be confirmed.

As its founder, the government of the Russian Federation will approve the Charter of the State Hermitage. The museum shall remain under the control of the Ministry of Culture.

The next Steering Committee meeting was arranged for February 2012.

In accordance with its traditions, the State Hermitage shall regularly provide information on the various stages of the 250th anniversary preparations. From 2012 all museum events will have the status of celebratory events.

First Meeting of the Steering Committee

Mikhail Piotrovsky, Dmitry Kozak, Georgy Poltavchenko and Alexander Avdeev

Svetlana Adaksina, chief curator of the Hermitage, telling the story of the Peter the Great (Small Throne) Room decoration

Laser cleaning of the gilded embroidered panel in the Peter the Great (Small Throne) Room

Mikhail Piotrovsky shows important guests the Eastern Wing of the General Staff Building

Interview in the Hall of Twenty Columns