Earlier that day, Vladimir Putin visited the Hermitage halls of antique art and presented the Order for Services to the Fatherland, I Degree, to Mikhail Piotrovsky.
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Director General of the State Hermitage Museum Mikhail Piotrovsky: Mr President, allow me to express my gratitude once again for the great honour, the decoration, the greetings, and your attention to the Hermitage and, broadly speaking, to culture and global events.
I would like to brief you on what has been accomplished and how the Hermitage has evolved recently, if you don’t mind.
President of Russia Vladimir Putin: It’s been a long time since my last time here. But it is always a pleasure.
Mikhail Piotrovsky: Today, we strolled through the Halls of Classical Antiquity, which you certainly have not visited in quite a while. You have been to others more recently.
What have we achieved in the last decade? We implemented the Greater Hermitage project – that is what it is called: the Greater Hermitage.
To begin with, there were two Hermitages in St Petersburg. This is Palace Square, the staircase. Here are some figures from our budget, which amounts to five billion, of which we generate 39 percent ourselves. This is the Leonardo da Vinci Hall, which has been extensively renovated.
We have just recently inaugurated the Peter the Great Gallery, with more halls dedicated to his memory. Peter the Great Halls serve as a model for our potential initiatives related to Alexander Nevsky, as this is the Peter the Great Gallery and the entire history of the creation of his image. We can use it as a reference, as an example, but very carefully.
This is the permanent exhibition of China. We are opening a few more halls tomorrow. This is our knowhow – this is the Hall of Ancient Urartu. And here we have a small part of the Erebuni museum in Yerevan, items we brought here. We are now implementing a similar project with Oman: there is a Hermitage hall there, and we have their hall here. It is fascinating, beneficial, and provides a mutual guarantee, so to speak.
This is our magnificent Caspar David Friedrich exhibition. It is our answer – an answer to everyone, a grand European, global event. Friedrich is a great German painter, appreciated by them like Albrecht Dürer. A Romantic from the 19th century. The finest collection of Friedrich's works outside of Germany is in Russia. In times when he was famous in Germany but not anywhere else, Russians bought his works. Which Russians, you ask? Nicholas I, Alexandra Feodorovna, and Zhukovsky. Thus, a grand collection was assembled. Additionally, when he faced difficulties, Nicholas supported him. In essence, their history is non-existent without Russia, and this great artist would not have existed. This is our contribution to the development of European culture. Hence, Friedrich is of utmost importance to us.
To be continued.