Meeting of the International Club of St. Petersburgers

On 29 January, 2002, the International Club of St. Petersburgers celebrated an anniversary of its creation in the Hermitage Theater. According to the tradition, the Assembly was opened by the Club's President Mikhail B. Piotrovsky. New members were officially admitted to the Club. Nicholas Roerich School of Arts: Pages from the History, a new book from the series Library of the International Club of St. Petersburgers, was presented to the audience. The event's acme was a performance by students of the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet. Some new purchases made by the State Hermitage Museum in 2001 were showed in an exhibition organized on the Assembly's occasion. Among the most interesting are historical documents of the 18th - early 20th centuries coming mainly from the collection of Evgeny Shramkov, Professor of the Polytechnic Institute in St. Petersburg. These are officer patents from the 18th and 19th centuries, merchant guild membership certificate (1794), officer certificate (1813) and decree of Nicholas II awarding headgear insignia to one of the Russian regiments. Especially interesting are six letters from Emperor Alexander I to Ivan V. Gudovich (1741-1820), count (1797), field marshal general (1807) and governor general of Moscow (1809-1812). In addition to the documents, there is a desk seal of schistose agate once owned by Emperor Nicholas I.

Mikhail B. Piotrovsky, President of the Club, and Valentina T. Orlova, Chair of the Club's Board, at the Assembly

Club members visiting the exhibition

Assembly participants in the Hermitage Theater