The State Hermitage permits the use of the pictures of items from its collections and also the views of its buildings and halls that are published on the website for personal, educational and information purposes:
- the creation of educational handouts
- school and student projects
- the illustration of lectures, papers presented at scholarly conferences and symposia, PowerPoint presentations and other interactive forms used for the presentation of scholarly works*
- use in dissertations*
- use in news programmes by the mass media
- For the categories of use listed above it is not necessary to make separate application to the Hermitage for permission.
* Note that when images from this site are to be used in reports, presentations, the materials of scholarly conferences/symposia/dissertations in the event of their subsequent publication –in either printed or electronic format – the user should apply to be granted the appropriate permission.
To receive high-resolution images and to use pictures of the buildings, interiors and works of art from the Hermitage collection in commercial or scholarly publications, applications should be submitted in writing and written permission should be obtained from the museum in advance.
Requests for the provision of high-resolution images and the rights to their publication should be addressed to the Director of the State Hermitage, Mikhail Piotrovsky, and sent to the Rights and Reproductions Office of the State Hermitage by e-mail: mikliaeva@hermitage.ru.
Details on the provision of images
Each application is considered individually. The amount to be paid for usage rights is determined on the basis of the type and character of the proposed use.
In the overwhelming majority of cases the State Hermitage possesses exclusive rights to the pictures of interiors and works of art from the Hermitage collection that are published on its website.
At the same time, the State Hermitage website does contain some materials the rights to which are owned by third parties. These include images of works that are themselves copyrighted under international legislation and the legislation of the country of the rights holder, and also materials provided by partners of the State Hermitage as part of joint exhibition or research projects. The use of such materials is regulated on the basis of separate agreements with the copyright holders. The Hermitage is not responsible in the event of wrongful actions by users in respect of such materials.
If you need to acquaint yourself more fully with international and Russian legislation on the exclusive rights and intellectual property of museums, we recommend studying the following laws:
- The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (Berne, 9 September 1886)
- The Universal Copyright Convention (Geneva, 6 September 1952)
- The Federal Law of the Russian Federation of 26 May 1996. № 54-FZ “On the museum fund of the Russian Federation and the museums of the Russian Federation” (with subsequent revisions)
- “The foundations of legislation of the Russian Federation on culture” (approved by the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation on 9 October 1992 № 3612-1) (latest revision 5 May 2014).