“Cultured Isolation” – a museum without visitors and without queues

After suspending the reception of visitors from 18 March, the museum has opened wide the possibilities for people to visit exhibitions, displays and lectures virtually. In the time since, 60 programmes and 43 broadcasts have been put out on Instagram. Views across all the museum’s official Internet resources total 20 million. That is many times more than the number from the start of the year up to then…

Over a year the Hermitage receives 4 million visitors. That number of people have paid virtual visits to the museum since the middle of March. Each morning the programme is announced in the social networks and people can chose whichever route suggested by the museum appeals to them most. On 18 April, at 1 pm, there will be a video on “The Gold Rooms. Khan Kubrat’s Hoard”, and on 19 April an introduction to the oeuvre of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. Italian art in the Hermitage streamed live with a remote commentary from a guide…

The museum’s programmes (which it terms “Cultured Isolation” – a museum without visitors and without queues) has proved to be to the liking of Internet users, helping to preserve people’s mental equilibrium and to educate them in their various villages, towns, cities and countries. Together with a TV crew from the Petersburg Studio of the Kultura channel, Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovsky is continuing to record new instalments of his own personal series…

Before the staff went into quarantine, 55 topics about the Hermitage were filmed. By what principle were they selected? Was there a special creative team at work? Which Hermitage collections are being particularly stressed?

For many people the guided tours of the Repository in Staraya Derevnya have been a revelation. New features have appeared within the Hermitage Online and Cultured Isolation projects. One of them is “The Hermitage Visiting Colleagues”, devoted to informing people about other museums.

Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovsky as President of the Union of Museums of Russia has appealed to the heads of the constituent territories of the Russian Federation, the founders of institutional museums and of private non-state museums requesting their support for museums under difficult circumstances. Meeting the targets planned for museums is impossible today.

The borders are closed and some items from the Hermitage’s stocks remain abroad. Are the mechanisms for international collaboration and state guarantees continuing to operate: is there no cause for concern?

The Hermitage’s day still begins at 10.30 in the morning. Only now it takes place online. The museum and its staff are not only working in virtual reality though. The cleaning of the premises, the museum’s security, the Hermitage cats all require attention. How is that being done?

Prominent figures in Russia’s cultural sphere have addressed the global cultural community (the text of the appeal was sent to UNESCO headquarters): “Dear friends and colleagues, we invite all of you, the UNESCO leadership, national ministries and agencies in charge of preserving and promoting culture to consider holding in June 2020 an international virtual marathon in support of the foundations of the world community and core cultural values. We are willing to discuss the details in the coming weeks. We will seek assistance from Russian and foreign media and communication corporations in organizing this marathon.”

Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage, took part in the programme, which was hosted by Anna Vsemirnova.