The State Hermitage Museum

The St. Petersburg PRO ARTE Foundation for Culture and Arts

in collaboration with

Ther Ford Foundation

The Lykeion – Museum Arts and Projects Ltd

THE MUSEUM AND THE STATE

International Conference

International conference The Museum and the State devoted to topical issues of cooperation of museums with state institutions was held at the Hermitage Theater. It was arranged in continuation of a series of conferences, meetings and discussions of the leading representatives of museum community that have been arranged by the State Hermitage in the partnership with the St Petersburg PRO ARTE Foundation since 2006.

The conference was attended by directors of the world’s leading museums, supervisors, administrators, representatives of city and Federal state institutions of ministries of Russia and foreign countries. Reports included in the session programme covered the most topical issues of museum development under conditions of modern economy and law. The following matters were brought up for discussion: museum economy, its activity and budget financing; the problem of preserving cultural heritage; the role of the state and the museum in reconstruction of museum buildings; replenishment of museum collections; state legislation and museum development.

Among the conference’s participants were the Federal Agency for Supervising the Observance of Laws in the Field of Protection of Cultural Heritage of the Russian Federation, the St. Petersburg Government, the Committee of the State Inspectorate for Preservation of Monuments, the RF Chamber of Accounts, the Victoria and Albert Museum, State Museums of Berlin, the Rijksmuseum, the Acropolis Museum, Restoring Ancient Stabiae Foundation, the Shanghai Museum, the State Tretyakov Gallery, the Peterhof State Reserve Museum, the Tsarskoye Selo State Reserve Museum, the Kerchensky Reserve Museum, the Ministry of Culture of the Ukraine, the Ministry of Culture of Italy, the Russian State Humanitarian University, the Kemerovsky Regional Museum of Visual Art, the Tsaritsyno State Historical Architectural Art and Landscape Reserve Museum.

PROGRAMME

April, 15, 2010

10.00 Opening session

Welcome by Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage Museum

Welcome by Elena Kolovskaya, Director of the PRO ARTE Foundation

10.30 – 13.00 Morning session “Museum Economics”

Chair: 

Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage Museum

Ian Blatchford, Deputy Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Economic Freedom vs. Government Control: the British Compromise

Elena Kalnitskaya, Director-General, Peterhof State Museum-Reserve

The Fountain System of Peterhof: Existential Paradoxes

Olga Taratynova, Director of the “Tsarskoye Selo” State Museum-Reserve

Development of Museum-Reserves in the Current Situation: the Case of the “Tsarskoye Selo” State Museum-Reserve

11.40 – 13.00 Discussion

13.00 – 13.50 Break

13.50 – 15.30 Afternoon session

Chair:

Vera Dementieva, Head of the Committee for Preservation of Cultural Heritage, St. Petersburg Government

Cristina Acidini, Superintendant of the Florence Museums

Role of the State in the Museum Management: the Case of the State Museums in Florence

Ferdinando Spagnuolo, Managing Director of the Restoring Ancient Stabiae Foundation

The Role of Cultural Foundations in Italy: New Perspectives of Collaboration between Public and Private Institutions

14.40 – 15.30 Discussion

April, 16, 2010

10.00 – 12.00 Morning session “Preservation of Cultural Heritage”

Welcome by Alexander Kibovsky, Service Head of the Russian Federal Service for Monitoring Compliance with Cultural Heritage Protection Law

Chair:

Alexander Kibovsky, Service Head of the Russian Federal Service for Monitoring Compliance with Cultural Heritage Protection Law

Michael Eissenhauer, Director General of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

From the Altes Museum to the Humboldt-Forum. National Responsibility for Cultural Heritage

Vera Dementieva, Head of the Committee for Preservation of Cultural Heritage, St. Petersburg Government

Museums in Historic Buildings of St. Petersburg. Restoration and Reconstruction: a Possible Compromise

Angela Vinci, Architect of the Restoring Ancient Stabiae Foundation

Organization of Travelling Exhibitions as a Strategy for Valorization of Cultural Heritage: a Case Study

11.10 – 12.00 Discussion

12.00 – 13.00 Break

13.00 – 15.00 Afternoon session “Growth of Museum Collections”

Chair:

Ian Blatchford, Deputy Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Victor Faybisovich, Head of Acquisitions Department of the State Hermitage

The State Hermitage and the State: Growth of the Collection after the Fall of Monarchy

Wim Pijbes, Director of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

The New Rijksmuseum

Zhou Yanqun, Chief of the Cultural Exchange Office, Shanghai Museum

Museum Development in Shanghai

14.10 – 15.00 Discussion

April, 17, 2010

10.00 – 11.10 Morning session “State Legislation and Museum Development”

Chair:

Georgy Vilinbakhov, Deputy Director of the State Hermitage Museum

Elena Kolovskaya, Director of the PRO ARTE Foundation

Between Museum and the State. Experience of One Small Charity Foundation

Marina Tsiguleva, Head of Law Department of the State Hermitage Museum

Preservation of Cultural Heritage and Federal Law 94

Anna Trofimova, Head of Department of Classical Antiquities and Secretary of the Committee for Constant Display, the State Hermitage Museum

Museum Projects and Achievements of New State Legislation. Russian Endowment

11.10 Round Table

Chair:

Georgy Vilinbakhov, Deputy Director of the State Hermitage Museum

13.00 Closing of the Conference

Project:  PROJECTS WITH THE HERMITAGE