The State Hermitage at the Intermuseum 2016 Festival

The theme of Intermuseum 2016 was “The Museum without Frontiers”. The main aim of this year’s festival was to draw attention to the museum as an important tool in the area of intercultural dialogue, to its social mission. The “city of museums” brought together state and private institutions, large and small ones. For the first time, museums in China and Iran took part in the festival alongside Russian museums. The CIS countries were represented by museums in Tajikistan, Azerbaijan and Belarus.

Over the four days of the festival, it was visited by around 35,000 people.

The State Hermitage’s stand

The theme of the State Hermitage’s stand at the 2016 festival this year – “The museum at the crossroads. Between past and future.” – was connected with two topics of great importance to the Hermitage. First, there is the museum as a centre of modern cultural life: part of the Hermitage’s programme at the festival was devoted to the General Staff, the modern museum space, its displays, exhibition halls and also the Hermitage 20/21 project. Another block of the programme told about the Hermitage as the guardian of cultural valuables of the past – from Yemen and Palmyra. “The thing is that the Arch of the General Staff is exactly the same as the arch in Palmyra, connecting two different tendencies together…. Saint Petersburg is not only known as ‘the Northern Palmyra’, we also have an architectural similarity to it,” Mikhail Piotrovsky, General Director of the State Hermitage, said.

In the stand’s “Palmyra zone” visitors could play an interactive computer game The Market of Palmyra, created on the basis of the text of the famous Palmyra tariff that is kept in the Hermitage. The game gives an idea of how and what people traded in Palmyra, allowing players to immerse themselves in the Ancient World. 

Also in this zone visitors could view holographic images of the lost edifices of Palmyra. Historical objects were reconstructed using 3D modelling: the sculpture of the Lion of al-Lāt (early 1st century AD), the Temple of Baalshamin (AD 131), the Temple of Bel (AD 32), the tower-tomb of Iamblichus (late 1st century BC) and the Arch of Triumph of Emperor Septimius Severus (late 1st century AD).

Besides that, every day on the stand the Temple of Baal was “reconstructed”, using a 1:100 scale exact copy of the chief place of worship in Palmyra.

The game called Be First in the General Staff proved very popular. Both children and adults enjoyed exploring the Hermitage’s new premises. 

Another success was the special glasses for viewing video in 360° format. On the initiative of Yury Molodkovets, specialists from Saint Petersburg’s ITMO University prepared a 360-degree panoramic video of the Hermitage’s Pavilion Hall. This new technology makes it possible to change the viewpoint of a video, in this case to see the Pavilion Hall from floor to ceiling, and even to “get inside” the showcase of the Peacock Clock.

During the first three days of the festival, the Hermitage presented on-line transmissions from the General Staff. On the first day there were interactive excursions on the topic of “The General Staff for the public: the exhibitions and permanent displays” with visitors to the Hermitage’s stand being able to direct the movements of the guides and to ask questions.

Natalya Diomina, a researcher in the Department of Western European Fine Art, spoke about the Sergei Shchukin and Morozov Brothers Memorial Gallery. On Floor 4 of the new museum complex the Hermitage has opened a display of French painting of the mid-19th to early 20th century. Besides works from the collections of Sergei Shchukin and Ivan Morozov, which make up the core of the gallery, the display includes paintings from a number of other Russian and European collections that have become part of the Hermitage’s stocks. Alexander Dydykin, head of the General Staff Department, conducted a tour through the halls of the display entitled “Realms of the Eagle. The Art of Empire”. The decoration of the halls makes it possible to present furniture, tapestries, bronze, silver and costumes in their historical context. The guide to the exhibition “Gifts from East and West to the Imperial Court over 300 Years” was Tatyana Ivanova from the Department for Scientific and Educational Work.

The direct links on the second day were devoted to the work of the State Hermitage’s Youth Centre, whose staff spoke, together with students, about various educational projects, such as the “Current Artistic Projects” section, the Student Club’s intellectual game and the educational programme accompanying the exhibition “Tony Cragg. Sculptures and Drawings”. 

The links on the third day were devoted to the history, architecture and restoration of the Gneral Staff building. The day began with video greetings from Georgy Vilinbakhov, Deputy General Director of the State Hermitage for Research. Then there was a virtual meeting with the architects Oleg and Nikita Yaveyn, the architects who planned the reconstruction of the General Staff building. Alexander Dydykin showed viewers through the halls and service rooms of the General Staff. Dmitry Ozerkov, head of the Department of Contemporary Art, spoke about the Hermitage 20/21 project and the museum’s contemporary art collections.

Throughout the festival, films specially made for Intermuseum 2016 were shown on plasma panels on the Hermitage’s stand.

Professional programme

Besides the work on the stand, members of the Hermitage staff also took part in the professional programme of the festival.

The main event of the first day was a round table on “Museums – defenders of cultural heritage and historical memory” organized by the State Hermitage. The theme for discussion became the participation of Russia’s museum community in the regeneration of the monuments of Syria.

On 14 May, Irina Diubanova, head of the museum’s School Centre, spoke about the experience of working with special-needs visitors in the Hermitage, specifically a tailored project for people with ASD (autism spectrum disorder). Yury Molodkovets, artist photographer of the State Hermitage, gave a lecture on a joint project between the museum and the Tochka Opory (“Point of Support”) Charitable Foundation including the “IN_INBREATHE” exhibition. 

The following day, Anna Terentyeva, Deputy Head of the State Hermitage’s Staraya Derevnya Restoration and Storage Centre, shared the experience of with working blind and partially sighted children in the project “The Past at Your Fingertips”. Marina Vialtseva and Marina Chokheli from the School Centre spoke about the Hermitage’s new educational programmes for younger schoolchildren.

Mikhail Kozhukhovsky, head of the Sector for Coordination of Volunteers, spoke about the State Hermitage’s volunteer projects. On 16 May, Yekaterina Sharova, leading PR specialist in the Department of Information Projects of the State Hermitage’s Historical and Informational Service gave a talk on “The journalist as an intermediary between the museum and society”.

Children’s Programmes

For children the Hermitage prepared various events in the Master Classes zone and in the Children’s Playground of the Intermuseum 2016 fesival. Visitors could make models of the sculpture of the Lion of al-Lāt that has been destroyed in Palmyra and colour them. There was also a game called “Take Palmyra with you” where all who wanted could make a 3D paper model of the Temple of Bel to take home as a souvenir.

Participants in the master class entitled “The Monogram of Catherine II” made their own monogram badge for a ceremonial costume. This master class for younger schoolchildren was devoted to the history of applied art, and jewellery-making in particular, examples of which can be found in the collection of the State Hermitage.

Another master class was devoted to French court art, which is represented in the Hermitage by a collection of the ceramics made by Bernard Palissy. Participants could decorate small plates using a variety of artistic techniques.

Particularly popular with the young visitors was the master class “The Art of the Russian Mosaic. Malachite articles in the State Hermitage”. After a brief introduction to exhibits from the museum, each participant could create their own stylized mosaic decoration.