Signing of a collaboration agreement with the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut

On 7 September 2001, in the State Hermitage, the signing took place of a Statement of Intentions with the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, the main purpose of which is to develop long-term joint scientific research programmes.

The negotiations held on 5-7 September were prompted by the results of the work of the Central Asian Archaeological Expedition to the republic of Tuva (Russian Federation) under the direction of Konstantin Chugunov in which the Eurasian department of the Berlin-based Deutsches Archäologisches Institut participated. The finds made during excavation of the Arzhan-2 burial mound - several thousand works of decorative and applied art from the Scythian era - have been brought to the State Hermitage for complex restoration and study in accordance with an agreement with the government of the republic of Tuva and the Institute of Humanities Research of the Republic of Tuva.

The State Hermitage was represented in the negotiations by its director Professor Mikhail Piotrovsky, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, academician of the Russian Academy of Arts, Tatiana Zagrebin, the museum's chief curator, Konstantin Chugunov, a member of the Eastern European and Siberian archaeology section responsible for the excavations, and the administration of that section. The German side was represented by Helmut Kirieleis, the president of the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, and Professor Hermann Parzinger, first director of the institute's Eurasian department.

The statement signed announces the parties' intention to draw up special agreements on their participation in the organization of a joint Central Asian Archaeological Expedition, on carrying out complex restoration work using the facilities of the State Hermitage, on the publication of the expedition material in Russian and German and on the preparation of an exhibition with the participation of cultural institutions of the Republic of Tuva.

Helmut Kirieleis, the president of the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, and Mikhail Piotrovsky, the director of the State Hermitage, at the ceremony

After the signing of the Statement of Intentions