On 25 April, the festival for children and teenage school pupils – Days of Classical Antiquity 2023 – begins in the Hermitage. The aim of the festival is to show that the legacy of the Greco-Roman world is not merely matter for museums but can also become a striking part of modern-day life and a source of inspiration.
The festival line-up includes creative master classes, online quests, educational videos and guided tours, as well as an inclusive programme. This time around, the festival will be held in two formats: the offline part will take place in the Hermitage’s halls of the Ancient World between 25 and 30 April, the online one in the social networks from 1 to 20 May 2023.
From 25 to 30 April, organized groups of pupils from art schools, studios and hobby groups in the city of Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Region will be able to take part in the festival. On 30 April, at 11.00 am, the Hermitage will welcome individual participants.
As in the past, the main event of the festival will be a children’s art competition, which this year will be held in conjunction with the State Hermitage’s satellite centre in Kazan. The theme of the competition is “Alexander the Great. The Road to the East”.
The history of Alexander’s Eastern Campaign from Greece to the shores of India, which lasted 12 years, led to the defeat of the most powerful empire in the Middle East, the development of new cities and the spread of Greek culture across vast areas of Asia.
The challenge for entrants is to produce a work of art inspired by the masterpieces of the Hermitage’s collection of Classical antiquities connected with the life and legacy of Alexander the Great.
To prepare for the competition, we suggest you acquaint yourself with the materials relating to the large-scale exhibition “Alexander the Great. The Road to the East” that is currently running at the Hermitage–Kazan Centre, and then take the online guide tour of the exhibition given by its curator, Anna Trofimova, head of the Hermitages Department of Classical Antiquity. Older pupils and their parents will also find it interesting to view Anna Trofimova’s video “Portraits of Alexander the Great. History and Myth”.
Alexander was well aware of and understood the importance of religion and myths, and he believed he was in competition not with ordinary mortals, but with the gods and celebrated heroes. Already in his own lifetime, he himself was being perceived as a deity or mythological hero. In Hellenistic art, the great military commander’s image occurred everywhere – in sculpture, paintings and vase decoration, on coins and applied art. He considered himself a follower of the mighty Achilles. You can learn about that mythological hero from the short film “Achilles. Almost Invulnerable”. Heracles (or Hercules) was Alexander’s second favourite idol. Another film tells about him – “Invincible Heroes of Greece: Heracles”.
We also invite people to find out about works of art from the Hellenistic period of Greek culture from the digital collection on the official State Hermitage website.
The art competition is open to young creative spirits aged 3 to 16. To participate in the offline format, they need to bring in their works on an A3-sized sheet of paper/card; only dry materials can be used (no water or paints of any kind). For the online format, the choice of artistic technique is completely open. In order for a work to be accepted for the competition, it should be accompanied by the following information: title, full name of the artist, age and home location. Pupils of specialist art schools may, if the wish, add the name of their school or art studio, and also the name of their teacher.
To enter the competition, you must send in an application to the e-mail address dniklassiky@yandex.ru, which is where you should also address any questions.
Works entered for the competition in 2023 will be judged in four age groups: 3–5, 6–8, 9–12 and 12–16 years old. The competition jury will be made up of researchers from the Hermitage’s Department of Classical Antiquity, artists and art scholars.
On 30 May, the Hermitage will hold an awards ceremony for the “Alexander the Great. The Road to the East” children’s art competition winners in online and offline format. All the winners will receive certificates of honour. That same day will see the opening of an exhibition of works by the winners of the offline competition in the Heracles Hall of the New Hermitage. The exhibition will run from 30 May to 2 July.
The works of the winners in the competition’s online format will be published on the State Hermitage’s official website and in the museum’s Vkontakte group.
The festival organizing committee reserves the right to publish photographs of competition entrants in the course of reporting on the event and to publish their works in the social media and on the museum website.
Keep up with the festival news through its official group in the VKontakte social network.
Information about festival events will be available with the hashtag #ДниКлассики2023.
