In today’s world, many museum events are happening that reflect processes taking place in society.
Our city has a namesake – Saint Petersburg in Florida. In a museum there, they closed an exhibition of early Greek art and fired the curator. The exhibition was from a private collection. There is no suspicion that the items in it were obtained illicitly. There is a strong probability that they may have been illegally imported. The acquaintances of the collection’s owner do include dealers with a less than spotless reputation. The sources of the items was not investigated and without that it is difficult to prove that they were acquired in good faith.
We are talking here of what in the museum world is elegantly termed “provenance”. An important part of museum work is studying the origins of things, to which collections they once belonged. Our catalogues contain the names of dozens of people through whose hands things have passed. It is possible to go further, to establish whether those hands were clean, that there is no evidence that the things were acquired illegally. At the Metropolitan Museum recently things have been confiscated on more than one occasion on the grounds that they were purchased illegally or from dishonest dealers. In other words, the provenance of things is becoming fundamental for the determination of their subsequent fate. A collection with an unsound reputation will not get shown anywhere. No-one will dare to accept it for an exhibition.
The issue also affects museum stocks. We are frequently getting told, “These things are not yours.” When talk began about the valuables of German Jews confiscated by the Nazis, all museums took it upon themselves to painstakingly research the origins of their collections. Now scholarly work is beginning into that of a detective or lawyer, If something has not been investigated in minute detail, it means that doubt exists. The presumption of innocence is disappearing. That is a worldwide tendency. I have already stated repeatedly that today we live in a society of distrust. Everyone has to prove their innocence.
Another reason also exists for arguments about cultural heritage. Recently UNESCO discussed yet again the list of masterpieces of world cultural heritage. They added to it Jericho, the most ancient city on Earth. The territory, where its site is located, is today not inhabited by those peoples who lived there tens of thousands of years ago. In the UNESCO list, Jericho was put down as a site in Palestine. The Israelis immediately submitted a protest.
The sites are listed by UNESCO on the territory of those countries that are obliged to take care of them.However, heritage cannot be the property of any one people: it belongs to humanity. That is why it must not be destroyed. Heritage ought not to be divided, but rather shared. That should not be forgotten, when we here calls that “That’s ours, hand it over…”
Recently an exhibition opened in Cologne, the like of which, according to the press, has never been seen before. Half the showcases are empty. They contained Benin bronzes that were returned to Nigeria as Nigerian heritage. What will happened to them going forward? At first the talk was of them ending up in a museum. Then it was announced that they would be handed over to the family that once ruled in Nigeria. That means the bronzes will lose their museum value or become a tourist object. What will happen with the Parthenon sculptures? Greece is demanding their return from Britain…
A museum is not a warehouse. The things there belong to particular collections. They are presented in a particular context, tell a particular story. Provenance is not only information about the origins of things that proves their authenticity, but their whole story. With us, when something leaves the display for a time, long or short, a “placeholder” – a photograph and information about its current location – is put there instead.
The Hermitage has one hall where you will find a photograph of the shrine and sarcophagus of Alexander Nevsky, the authentic trophies of the tomb. The shrine’s history is a dramatic one. Our period of time is only a small part of it. The funeral, several fires, the opening of the relics, their removal on Peter the Great’s orders from Vladimir to Saint Petersburg. We tell people about that in detail> There was great resistance in Vladimir when the sacred object was taken away. The story of the 1812 invasion and the tragic post-revolutionary events are also covered. I remind readers once again that the the tomb was destined for destruction: it was to be shown in an exhibition and then melted down. The Hermitage and Russian Museum spoke up for it and saved it. It was no easy matter to evacuate the tomb from Leningrad. It was carried away so as not to fall into the hands of the Germans. Alexander Nevsky defeated the Germans.
I have said many times that the shrine’s place is in the Hermitage. Now, though, trhe situation is such that it is better for it to be reunited with the relics. For a great number of the faithful, its vital value is more important that its artistic one. It is possible to take different attitudes to that. We do see, though, the way that people queue up in crowds to venerate the Ceinture of the Theotokos [Girdle of the Virgin Mary] or a miracle-working icon.For them it is a sacred object. The shrine of Alexander Nevsky can make their life better today.It is out of respect for that, responding to a request, that we are handing over the shrine to the Alexander Nevsky Monastery. There is nothing terrible about that. The shrine still belongs to the Hermitage. It is not the only thing that is exhibited outside of the museum’s walls.
There remains the issue of its preservation. We remember that it was the practice in churches to throw away icons when they darkened and to repaint them. They turned into works of art when people started cleaning them. I believe that it is not only important for museum people that the shrine is preserved. I assume that it is also important for people in the Church. The monastery has a permanent keeper of the tomb, people who are responsible for it. Humidity and temperature are being monitored, the equipment is being adjusted, the necessary atmosphere is being created to prevent anything happening to the shrine. Each day the vice-rector of the monastery and I receive the data from the temperature and humidity monitoring. In parallel, I also received the figures for the Alexander Hall in the Hermitage, where silver is also kept.So far, everything has been more or less acceptable.
We are also discussing the procedure for giving access to the shrine. The church is open to all. That is understood. But things need to be seen from the viewpoint of the preservation of the artefact. The Annunciation Sepulchre is not a large space. No more than 30–40 people can fit in there at any one time. There has to be a waiting area. There is precedence elsewhere, Italy in particular. No more than 30–40 people are allowed in at any one time to view Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper in MIlan or Giotto’s frescoes in Padua. Before going in, they wait in another special room. Everything is worked out. We need to arrange something too.
The story with the shrine of Alexander Nevsky and Rubkev’s Trinity is central for us, but it is just part of events worldwide, There is an immense tangle of mutual demands. They might concern Church property, the property of colonial peoples who were under someone or other’s yoke or oppressed, property taken as war trophies, the confiscated property of particular social strata….
At one time the decision was important and correct to gather objects for museums and to explain to humanity that they are a part of world culture, that they need to be compared and studied. The rule for the preservation of heritage has turned into a way of life in museums and we are introducing it into the life of society by various means.
One of the latest examples is the creation of an Archaeological Park and Museum of the History of Christianity at Chersonesus. Chersonesus is a site from the beginnings of Christianity. The military have moved from a territory where tremendous excavations are taking place. Architects are working alongside archaeologists. The archaeologists’ finds are forcing the architects to amend the plans on the fly. The park is being created under museum conditions.
The remains of ancient structure have been found that are located below sea-level. In breach of museum rules, they are not being left in situ, but raised to the surface. Life makes adjustments to rules. Work is proceeding in which there is an understanding that secular and spiritual culture are of equal significance.
In today’s world, it is often being demanded that museums participate in public life, make political pronouncements, allow people to hold meetings on their premises… The British Museum has not signed a fresh sponsorship agreement with an oil-and-gas company because oil pollutes the atmosphere.
A museum should not submit to the demands of the mob. It should propagate an understanding of museum ethics and aesthetics. We need to get believers to understand the value of Russian religious art; to get politicians to understand the historical value of the ambiguous events that took place in our history. What makes a museum different from a history textbook? The textbook is facts, figures, dates that everyone ought to know. The museum provided the opportunity to examine all the nuances of history, to see how hard it was to win the victories, what the defeats were like, how victories turned into defeats, and defeats into victories.
Our task is to gradually introduce museum rules into the life of society. Museums have instilled in people an understanding that art is not homogenous. They have accustomed people to the idea that there is nothing dreadful in nude sculpture. A statue of David stands on the square in Florence, a copy of it in the Pushkin Museum. That is the result of a museum battle.
The museum perception, the museum tradition ennobles people and protects the collections.
This material was published in the Sankt-Peterburgskiye Vedomosti newspaper No181 (7510) on 27 September 2023 under the heading “Heritage is not divided, but shared”.
