Teleconference: The State Hermitage (St Petersburg, Russia) - The National Gallery for Foreign Art (Sofia, Bulgaria)

The project was realized by IBM Bulgaria which provided the National Gallery in Sofia with necessary computer equipment. The IBM Net Vista Kiosk installed in the gallery gives its visitors an opportunity to make a virtual tour round the Hermitage.
To mark the opening of the kiosk there was held a teleconference at the museums of St Petersburg and Sofia, with the participation of Hermitage Director Mikhail Piotrovsky, Mayor of Sofia Stefan Sofianski, Director of the National Gallery for Foreign Art Georgi Lipovanski and General Director of IBM Bulgaria Georgi Randelov. Hermitage Director Mikhail Piotrovsky said during the teleconference: ''The highest priority of the State Hermitage as one of major art museums in the world is to let art lovers all round the world appreciate its collections. To achieve this goal we make use of all available resources including modern computer-related technologies. The Hermitage Web site, Digital Library, Educational and Technology Centre and International Information Kiosks are the result of our multi-year partnership with IBM."