Readings in Memory of Boris Borisovich Piotrovsky

On 14 February 2013, the Hermitage Theatre hosted Readings in Memory of Boris Borisovich Piotrovsky (1908-1990), the famous Russian archaeologist and orientalist who headed the State Hermitage Museum for more than a quarter of a century. This conference is held every year on February 14th, on Boris Borisovich's birthday.

There is no conference at the Hermitage more diverse in terms of the topics it covers than the Readings in Memory of B.B. Piotrovsky. The topics of the presentations reflect Boris Borisovich's interests and the nearly encyclopedic breadth of Hermitage research: Western European art, eastern studies, numismatics, ancient and medieval history and, of course, archaeology, the science to which B.B. Piotrovsky dedicated his life.

In recent years, there have been more and more presentations about the history of the Hermitage, which was also one of Boris Borisovich's interests. The Director of the Hermitage, M.B. Piotrovsky opened the conference by describing one of the most striking and significant figures in the history of the museum, B.B. Piotrovsky's senior colleague, Iosif Abgarovich Orbeli. The primary stages of Orbeli's work - fighting the sale of the Hermitage collections in the 1930's, managing the Hermitage during the Siege of Leningrad, restoring the Hermitage after the war - were presented in photographs, documents and caricatures.

The restoration and attribution of artifacts are the two primary and most important aspects of the museum's work. They were reflected in T.K. Kustodieva's presentation, dedicated to the attribution of a painting by a 14th century Italian master, which became possible thanks to many years of restoration. The attribution of artifacts, including those recently acquired by the museum, was also the theme of many other presentations.

It has become a Hermitage tradition to open a new permanent exposition or temporary exhibit on February 14th; this year, the gift to the memory of Boris Borisovich was the opening of a permanent exposition entitled "The Culture and Art of Central Asia."