Mikhail Piotrovsky: Cultural Connections as Medicine

The word “boycott” has entered our vocabulary today. A boycott has been declared on Russian culture. People are being forced to cut ties with Russia’s cultural institutions. Meanwhile it is being said, by official figures among others, that this is short-sighted and unjust.

There is another word applicable to the situation – “blockade”. There is a clear attempt being made to blockade the activities of our museums and theatres. Those activities have always been a cultural offensive that many in the West disliked. An offensive of that sort – a manifestation of “soft power” – created an attractive image of Russia. Here within the country that irritated some people too. Today the Russian press is at times gloating more in its coverage of what is taking place in culture than the Western press.

We are well aware of what a blockade is. The muses do not fall silent in a time of siege. We have experience of how to communicate through the encirclement of a blockade. We have to try to prevent the ring from closing and the onset of apartheid – one more word applicable to the situation.

I used that word in a letter to fellow museum directors. At one time, I became interested in the Black Panthers organization. I read Malcom X, Eldridge Cleaver and others. Black American nationalists came to the conclusion that the black and white communities should live separately. In the days of the Soviet Union, two worlds did indeed live separately, each according to its own principles. When perestroika began, active international cultural ties appeared, and there was an end to apartheid – the isolated existence of different cultures.

Today we here it said, “Very well then, now we shall live fine on our own.” We shall perhaps live fine, just to spite everyone, but it is more interesting to live with interaction. Culture is almost our only unarguable advantage. Much can be destroyed – the economy, ideology… In culture we affirm ourselves. That needs to be propagated widely.

Hermitage is a French word. The museum has always been a global one and remains so. We have explained many times that the concept of the worldwide orbit of the Hermitage exists. If the situation changes, our events shift from one set of places to another. From London to Kazan, from Las Vegas to Amsterdam, from there to Italy, then to Yekaterinburg…

There is the Hermitage and the world around it. Everywhere is of interest to us, the demands are the same with regard to the places to which the museum comes, whether it is Paris or Novosibirsk.. In Russia, our centres are many – the Hermitage–Omsk, Hermitage–Kazan, Hermitage–Ural… The creation of a Hermitage–Caucasus cultural and archaeological centre in Nalchik is under discussion. Talks are underway about a Hermitage in Orenburg.

A problem has arisen in Europe, so we will become more active in other places. There are not many museums like the Hermitage in the world. It should manifest itself with a global presence in various forms. Hermitage Days are held in a dozen places. They will not take place in Europe, for obvious reasons, but besides Russia they are planned for Dubai, Abu Dhabi and China.

Covid affected exhibition activities. When it comes to the cultural sphere, what is happening now is post-Covid complications. We know what needs to be done. Over the past two years, a strategy has been worked out to preserve cultural bridges. I am constantly saying that this is vital. Some agree, others do not. Politicians have their agenda, the military have theirs. Culture should not be turned into a weapon of war. There are various viewpoints on that score. We are firmly convinced that the legacy of great Russian culture should be a means of nurturing national dignity, but not an instrument of rancour.

Openness is a form of offensive. Many disliked our openness on both sides of the border. Over there it is said that the Russians boast of their great culture, the legacy of Russian imperialism. Here people get irritated that we take things to the Europeans instead of showing them in our own provinces. We do show them there too. The one does not prevent the other.

The present post-Covid situation has burst a boil of malice. Cultural connections are a medicine. The need is not to cultivate rancour, but to relieve post-Covid stress – psychosis, nervosity, malice. We have learnt to produce projects that bring people calm and respite.

The world has not been reduced to two or three places in Europe. Let me remind you that for ten years now we have not had museum exchanges with the USA – all because of a refusal to give a guarantee that the exhibits would be returned no matter what legal claims were put forward. Only private collections have come to us.

We continued and still are continuing work in several directions.

A few days ago, I spoke at a seminar in Abu Dhabi, where an agreement was signed with the participation of the Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Russian Geographical Society on the restoration of the Arch of Triumph in Palmyra. That is no straightforward matter. Syria is under sanctions. UNESCO is discussing the restoration project but takes a cool attitude towards it. For several years now, my call for the creation of an international campaign to save sites in Syria, although it does garner a response, gets put off on each occasion. We have found ways to participate in restoration that circumvent the sanctions.

The restoration of architectural monuments is a delicate matter. As soon as we come in, the shouts go up: “The Russians are doing everything wrong!” That is why the Institute for the History of Material Culture and the Hermitage began to make studies of the Palmyrene Arch. Every little fallen stone has been recorded. Incidentally, the arch had previously been restored by the French. A lot was not done the way it should be. Reinforcing rods and concrete can be seen in the photographs. Now the project will first be reviewed by an international commission that includes Syrians, UNESCO representatives and major restoration specialists. If they approve it, the project will be passed on to the Syrian government and then to UNESCO. When we find a way to get approval and an assessment, work will begin in accordance with all the rules and principles of restoration.

Besides that, the Hermitage has been receiving Syrian restorers for practical training and is helping to restore ruined Syrian reliefs. If those reliefs had been brought to the Hermitage, there would be an outcry that Syria’s artefacts were being stolen. Because of that, the reliefs are being taken to Oman and our restorers are working on them there.

A manifestation of our openness is delicate diplomatic work. The Institute for the History of Material Culture carried out a study of Syrian sites with particular attention being devoted to the Christian ones. It is possible that we will become involved in the restoration of Syrian frescoes. A line of interaction and working under wartime conditions in Syria is being established. That is an example of “soft power” and how bridges ought to be preserved.

One more line that has to be developed in the circumstances that have arisen is state-of-the-art technologies. We have announced that the first stage of the Greater Hermitage project has been completed: the creation of open storage facilities, the Hermitage centres, the museum becoming a venue for public events.

We are beginning the next stage, which we term the “Celestial Hermitage” – a museum with the latest technologies. Many events will take place without the authentic items being displaced. That is fashionable and attractive.

The Hermitage has carried out an NFT auction in a timely and interesting manner and held the first virtual exhibitions “in the cloud”. Now work is underway on creating a display in China. The prototype was the small “Virtual Hermitage” that we presented in Belgorod this past winter: the façade of the museum with several items from the Hermitage in virtual reality inside. In China there will be a large exhibition. We already have experience of telling about the Winter Palace and General Staff building in 3D. This is a method of working under post-Covid conditions, when the borders are closed, and it is almost impossible to take art abroad. The latest technologies make it possible to overcome restrictions. I think we shall be continuing. There are discussions about similar projects in the regions of China, the Persian Gulf and Middle East.

A new exhibition is about to open in the Hermitage – an exploration of Florentine Renaissance sculpture. It studies the studio of Andrea del Verrocchio, where some remarkable artists worked, most notably Leonardo da Vinci. Some sculptures were supposed to come from Italy, one of which, it has been suggested, was touched by Leonardo’s hand. It will not be coming, but a copy created using modern technologies will be on display, as well as a sculpture of our own, in the creation of which Leonardo’s involvement can also be conjectured.

We are holding an exhibition about archaeological finds from the Bosporan Kingdom. It is dedicated to the great archaeological and Classical historian Mikhail Rostovtzeff. There is an aspect to it that is important for the present moment. Rostovtzeff was a specialist in Classical Antiquity. He worked in Syria and wrote extensively about Palmyra. In 1918 he went abroad and became a leading figure in his field. He is one of Russia’s gifts to the world.

The exhibition tells about Russia’s Classical heritage. It turned out that it exists not only in Italy and Greece, but also with us. We are direct heirs of the culture of Antiquity and, that means, a part of Europe. We have experience of the combination of Scythian culture with the Greco-Roman.

This year has been dedicated to Russia’s cultural heritage. Museums will study heritage from the perspective of diversity and interaction. Russia’s experience is in itself a gift to the world. People feel themselves powerful when they are able to make gifts.

https://spbvedomosti.ru/news/culture/mikhail-piotrovskiy-kulturnoe-obshchenie-kak-lekarstvo/