“WE ARE WAITING FOR EVERY PEOPLE OF KAZAN HERE”

The exhibition was traditionally preceded by a press conference from the director of the Hermitage Mikhail Piotrovsky, in which the new director of the state historical, architectural and art museum-reserve “Kazan Kremlin” took part Zilya Valeeva.

Piotrovsky, in his invariable black scarf, even the hot weather did not allow Mikhail Borisovich to take it off; he had just returned from Amsterdam, where he opened another exhibition in the Hermitage center. Having appeared in Kazan at night, he had already managed to Mintimer Shaimiev see how things are progressing in the restoration of the Bolgars. Nevertheless, the press conference began almost on time.

The exhibition will run until March next year, and not only every Tatarstan citizen should visit it, but also our neighbors from Chuvashia and Mari El, because this is our common history. We can assume that its attendance will break all records,” Valeeva shared her assumptions.

There are no such exhibitions anywhere in the world and there will never be. There is one museum in the world that could assemble and present such a collection - this is the Hermitage, some of the exhibits are being exhibited there for the first time in their lives,” Piotrovsky emphasized the uniqueness of the exhibition.

By the way, the director of the Institute of History of the Republic of Tatarstan once proposed holding such an exhibition in Kazan Rafael Khakimov, his proposal was listened to with interest and was implemented within the walls of the Hermitage.

You will see simplicity and luxury - ceramics and golden goblets, this is typical for the nomadic world, - this is how Piotrovsky announced the exhibition.

When asked by a BUSINESS Online correspondent about the insurance cost of the exhibition, Piotrovsky replied: “I never name the insurance cost. But I can say one thing: it is very big here. Look how much gold is on display.”

According to the director of the Hermitage, about 500 thousand people attended one of the similar exhibitions in St. Petersburg; according to Piotrovsky’s forecast, the figure in Kazan may be higher.

“PEOPLE HAVE AWAKENED INTEREST IN HISTORY”

Exhibition “Nomads of Eurasia. On the way to empire" - the tenth Hermitage. In general, Kazan has been cooperating with the museum on the banks of the Neva for fifteen years. The initiative for this friendship and cooperation once belonged to the President of the Republic of Tatarstan Shaimiev. It is no coincidence that at the opening of a new exhibition in the Hermitage-Kazan center Mintimer Sharipovich was one of the most honored guests.

This year in Tatarstan has been declared the year not only of history, but also of the revival of historical heritage, the people have awakened interest in history, we have become different,” Mintimer Sharipovich emphasized at the opening ceremony of the exhibition.

When the ribbon was ceremonially cut, according to tradition, the first tour of the exhibition was given by the director of the Hermitage himself. And Shaimiev became the first excursionist.

ON THE STEPPE EXPANSES

What did the nomads give to the world? How did horsemen interact with agricultural civilizations? These and other questions are answered by the exhibition, which occupies all the Hermitage halls; it is arranged in chronological order.

Time coverage – from the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. before the formation of the Great Mongol Empire in the 13th century. The collection has been collected for many years; it includes objects that came to the Hermitage from archaeological excavations of burial mounds, cities and sites; this is one part of the exhibited collection. The second came from the collection of collectors of the late 19th – early 20th centuries.

There are items that are being exhibited for the first time. These are finds from the Aimyrlyg and Kichmalka burial grounds.

ROYAL JEWELRY

The first hall is dedicated to the culture of the Scythian time; the earliest monuments of Europe and Central Asia are located here. Here you can see an abundance of luxurious gold items of the finest workmanship from the “royal” graves, they are complemented by the reconstruction of funeral costumes from the only undisturbed monument of this type, it was explored at the beginning of this century, this is the Arzhan-2 mound. From this mound, slabs with rock art came to the exhibition drawings. These slabs, examples of nomadic art, are extremely rarely exhibited in museums.

The same section presents another unique exhibit - the ax from Kelermes, it was made in the 7th century BC and is considered a masterpiece of the Hermitage collection.

« ICE LENSES"

Wood, felt and leather - they can be miraculously preserved in burial grounds, but under one condition. If they are in so-called “ice lenses”. Such items from deep burial grounds where nobles were buried are also on display. These are magnificent and unique products of the Pazyryk culture of Altai.

They are adjacent to the so-called Siberian collection of Peter the Great; it is noteworthy that it was with it that museum work began in Russia at one time.

A number of European monuments are represented by products of the warlike Sarmatians, they replaced the Scythians in the Black Sea steppes. The most striking exhibit of that time at the Hermitage exhibition is jewelry from the Khokhlach mound, in which a female priestess was buried. Naturally, this burial is very rich.

THE GREAT MIGRATION OF PEOPLES

Gold items in a polychrome animal style, specially shaped bronze cauldrons, weapons and decorations for horse harnesses are objects that tell about the culture of the European Huns. Before us is the era of the great migration of peoples, a new page in the history of the nomadic tribes of Eurasia. At this time, in the east, Turkic tribes, the ancestors of many modern peoples, entered the historical arena.

They move to life in cities, accepting all the achievements of sedentary farmers, but also maintaining their originality. Stone sculptures of warriors, weapons, belt sets, horse equipment and other objects of material culture - they come from different places in Central and Central Asia and indicate the spread of Turkic influence over a vast territory.

There is another interesting section at the exhibition, it is dedicated to the Karakhanid state, which emerged at the turn of the first and second millennia in the foothills of the Tien Shan. Islam was widespread in this state, and this can be clearly seen in art - in the wonderful products of ceramicists, coppersmiths, and glassblowers.

And finally, the final section of the new exhibition. It is dedicated to the Great Mongol State - the empire that Genghis Khan created. And it, albeit for a short time, united vast territories of Eurasia.

The first capital of this empire was Karakorum; materials obtained during excavations in this place are presented for the first time at an exhibition in the Hermitage center.

WHERE ARE WE FROM?

“Our path is steppe. Our path is in boundless melancholy,” the poet once wrote. At the exhibition you will hear this “voice of the steppe”, the clatter of the hooves of a nomad’s horses and the hubbub of an ancient city.

You will sigh, longing for something eternal with the ancient stone Polovtsian woman, who helplessly folded her hands on her stomach. You will hear the ringing of a copper amphora and the roar of dragons and leopards fighting on a golden belt plate. Smile at the cute carved mountain goats.

But the main thing is that you will once again ask yourself the question: who are we, where are we from? Our distant past becomes tangible. Piece by piece, like a kind of mosaic, the picture of distant centuries is recreated for us, and we see its beauty, scope and... reality.

M. B. Piotrovsky, it seems, never answered the questions of where the disappeared valuables went and why collections of masterpieces went to exhibitions without insurance.
And in general, what came back from “exhibitions” were originals or fakes? As far as we know, no one has carried out any examinations?
A selective and then a total inspection of the Hermitage in 2013 is needed for the safety of masterpieces and their authenticity, and at the same time for all the financial and economic activities of the management of the above-mentioned museum.
After this, it will be clear in what tone and on what topical topics you can speak with this strange director.”

http://blog.fontanka.ru/posts/122586/#comments
(comment from BigNode user)

http://karpovka.net/2013/01/19/92033/#comments
http://forum.rosbalt.ru/index.php?showtopic=1083328&st=20
http://www.baltinfo.ru/2013/01/19/Piotrovskii-otka...bne-v-stenakh-Ermitazha-330911

P.S. — ANECDOTE ON THE TOPIC:

DYNAMITE STORIES

“GOD HIMSELF ORDERED TO STEAL”
or
TEMPTATIONS OF A TERRORIST

The footmen [of the Winter Palace], and indeed the palace servants in general, were truly “grateful.” From the surviving messages of A.I. Zhelyabov and S.N. Khalturin, it is known that upon entering the Winter Palace, Khalturin was amazed by the morals and customs of his new comrades. Amazing disorder reigned in the management of the palace. The general theft of ministers exceeded all probability. Khalturin’s palace colleagues hosted feasts, which dozens of their acquaintances freely attended without control or supervision. While the highest-ranking officials did not have free access to the palace from the front entrances, the back doors were open day and night to any tavern acquaintance of the latest palace servant. Often visitors stayed overnight in the palace.

The general theft of palace property forced Khalturin to steal food supplies so as not to appear suspicious. Twice he stole porcelain dishes. However, the servants claimed that God himself ordered them to steal, because, for example, palace lackeys received only 15 rubles a month...

The theft in the palace reached such proportions that Khalturin (in a conversation with Narodnaya Volya member A.A. Kvyatkovsky) wondered why the almost unguarded crown of Catherine II, located on the first floor of the palace, which was valued at a million rubles, was not stolen... “How are all these crowns and scepters not stolen? plundered - I can’t imagine it?” said Khalturin.

Preparing the explosion, Khalturin demanded from the Executive Committee of Narodnaya Volya assistance with various intelligence information, and most importantly, supplying him with dynamite.

Pavel Kann.
Walk from the Summer Palace to the Winter Palace
along the Palace Embankment of St. Petersburg.
St. Petersburg, Petrogradsky and Co., 1996, pp. 180-181.

WHY IS THE DIRECTOR OF THE HERMITAGE M. PIOTROVSKY,
SPECIALIST IN ISLAM AND QURAN,
NOT ALLOWED FOR CHRISTIANS
PRAY IN THE TEMPLES OF THE WINTER PALACE?

It has long been known that in the depths of the State Hermitage Museum, subordinate to the Ministry of Culture of Russia, a community of Orthodox Christians operates in deep underground, as during the time of the sadistic Roman emperor Nero, who persecuted Christians, and legally - according to the Decree of the President of Russia - demands to be freed from “secular exhibitions” churches of the official residence of the Russian Emperors (home of the heads of the Russian state - emperors and empresses) - the Winter Palace.

Christians urgently ask for the implementation of the Presidential Decrees on the return of objects of Christian worship to the Russian Orthodox Church. The director of the State Hermitage Museum, Mikhail Piotrovsky, does not pay attention to the legitimate demands of the Orthodox; he does not want to comply with the Decrees of the President of Russia.

Why?

As a former hereditary communist-atheist?

Or for some other reason?

Or citizen M.B. Piotrovsky, who has ascended “very highly,” has no time to pay attention to the Orthodox St. Petersburgers “standing below,” for he (already or still?) is the general director of the State Hermitage Museum, a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Full Member of the Academy of Arts, Full Member of the Academy of Humanities, Head of the Department of Museum Studies and Monument Protection, Professor of the Faculty of Philosophy at St. Petersburg University, Professor of the Oriental Faculty of St. Petersburg University, Head of the Department of History of the Ancient East of the Oriental Faculty of St. Petersburg University, Dean of the Faculty of Oriental Studies St. Petersburg University, Chairman of the Union of Museums of Russia, member of the International Council of Museums, member of the Presidium of the Russian UNESCO Committee, laureate of the Presidential Prize of the Russian Federation in the field of literature and art, and so on and so forth and so on...

But for now he, M.B. Piotrovsky, is not yet a museum emperor! more and more new positions...

Is it really possible that the former communist-atheist comrade, and now Mr. M.B. Piotrovsky, is so brilliant that while officially in the responsible state service of the general director of the State Hermitage Museum, he can simultaneously perform responsible work in other positions - tens of times greater, than the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin himself?

Does the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Vladimir Rostislavovich Medinsky know that one of the museum directors subordinate to him, wearing his constant scarf around his neck and personifying the ideological trend of “elegant scarfism with short lean Caucasian legs” in Russian political thought, can simultaneously, in addition to the general directorate in the State Hermitage Museum, perform so many other functions and memberships?

It is high time for the famous Russian statesman, chief sanitary doctor of Russia Gennady Grigoryevich Onishchenko to check why Mr. Piotrovsky does not take care of his health, scrupulously performing so many important duties at the same time. Surely this violates the Labor Code of the Russian Federation...

Doesn’t Mikhail Borisovich, as the general director of the State Hermitage Museum, being an “editor” and “compiler”, the author of “prefaces” and “afterwords”, receive money? Perhaps he transfers them to retired women - the caretakers of the halls, junior researchers and employees of the Hermitage who receive meager salaries? Give them a list of those who have been blessed!

But why does this happen?

Is he a very rich man?

The fiftieth anniversary of the reign (1964-2014) of the “house of Piotrovsky” in the “State Hermitage” is approaching, about which a special book was written by the doctor-cantor - “The Hermitage. Piotrovsky" (St. Petersburg, 2004, 170 pp.), dedicated to the fortieth anniversary of the dismissal of the outstanding archaeologist Mikhail Illarionovich Artamonov (1898-1972) from the post of director of the Hermitage in 1964.

Artamonov’s resignation occurred “thanks to” the exhibition activities of the well-known Shemyakin Mishka, an art provocateur (as he was called in “Saigon”), who is now abroad.

As is known, professor and academician Piotrovsky was not involved in the death of Larisa Zavadskaya, who robbed the funds of the State Hermitage Museum (this was proven by the court). He, being the general director of the State Hermitage Museum, is not guilty of the death of the thief Larisa Zavadskaya at a working museum post!

A thief or thieves stole exhibits worth hundreds of millions of rubles from the funds of the State Hermitage Museum. Piotrovsky M.B., director of the State Hermitage Museum, professor and member, for this largest theft in the history of the Hermitage, which will soon, in 2014, turn a quarter of a millennium, received only a reprimand from a talker on various occasions and occasions on the Culture channel » former Minister of Culture Mikhail Shvydkoy.

By the way, a former relative of Piotrovsky M.B. Natasha Dementyeva (the former wife of his cousin) was Yeltsin’s Minister of Culture and distinguished herself during Yeltsin’s burial of the so-called “Ekaterinburg remains,” which are not recognized by the Russian Orthodox Church as the authentic bodies of the family of the last Russian emperor.

One of Natasha’s deputies was Misha, whose last name was Shvydkoy, who castled chairs with Natasha, who, already being a minister, announced to Piotrovsky M.B. for the “exploits” of the thief Larisa Zavadskaya, only a reprimand.

But for similar offenses (oversight of theft), Defense Minister Serdyukov not so long ago lost his high position... M.B. Piotrovsky is “sitting”! Let's add, still...

“World Citizen of St. Petersburg”, supporting a small clique in the form of the virtual “World Club of St. Petersburgers”, international and Russian order bearer, listed in the list of honorary citizens of St. Petersburg, Mr. M.B. Piotrovsky fools his superiors with unctuous songs and tales and jokes about “the cultural heritage and the unsurpassed role of the Hermitage in the history of Russia.”

In general, it is not Dostoevsky who is a symbol of Russian culture, but Piotrovsky!

However, as you know, the concept of culture, like any other category, is a sought-after one, which creates the ground for speculation by comrade (former communist) Mikhail Piotrovsky.

It is widely known that Mikhail Piotrovsky is a scientist, an expert on Islam (and therefore a propagandist of the ideas of the Koran - who sincerely does not love his professional knowledge, for which he receives money?).

But for some reason he is also an award winner, as well as the son of an Armenian woman and the Russified Pole communist B.B. Piotrovsky - a Soviet hero of socialist labor and order bearer (three Orders of Lenin and one of the October Revolution, three Red Banner of Labor; there are other awards from the regional committee of the CPSU, which approved the award lists), a member of the regional committee of the CPSU, who fooled his head about the “bright future of all mankind - communism”!

I would also like to ask: who runs the information website of the State Hermitage Museum - not professor or academician Mikhail Piotrovsky, but also Piotrovsky. Is he a relative of the general director of the State Hermitage Museum?

And how can one not recall the words of Adlai Stevenson, who once told one gentleman this:

"IF YOU DON'T STOP LYING ABOUT ME
“I WILL NOT STOP SPEAKING THE TRUTH ABOUT YOU!”

…SO WILL THEY BE ALLOWED?
PERMANENT SERVICES
IN DEFAMATED BY THE COMMUNISTS
ORTHODOX TEMPLES
IMPERIAL WINTER PALACE?
DOES EVERYTHING STILL DEPEND
FROM A FORMER ATHEIST COMMUNIST
PIOTROVSKY M.B. ?

Internal view
Great Church of the Winter Palace
in St. Petersburg

The State Hermitage is celebrating two anniversaries this year: the 250th anniversary of the museum and the 70th anniversary of its director Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovsky. Under his leadership, the world-famous museum has been operating for 22 years.

However, Piotrovsky is known not only as the head of the museum, but also as a public figure. His opinion is always listened to, he is able to influence the adoption of any decisions concerning the life of the city. Over the years of his active work, Mikhail Borisovich gave dozens of interviews. On the birthday of the Hermitage director, the site collected his statements about literature, art and the legendary scarf, which can always be seen draped over the shoulders of an oriental historian.

About interest in art

Our task is to teach people to understand art. The understanding of beauty is formed from childhood. Therefore, we welcome both children and students who are ready to spend a lot of time in the museum. This is important because people (as we have already seen) have lost the ability to debate. They seek to impose their own opinions and reject those of others. Because of this, the colorful world becomes black and white, and society requires people with a complex perception of life. I'm not just talking about art: this is a condition for our survival in the 21st century. I am convinced that when people do not see difficulties, rockets begin to fall. (Hermitage website)

About efficiency

Learn to see the beauty in the little things. We are used to thinking globally, everyone dreams of earning a million, they don’t agree to anything less, that’s why they sit on the stove and do nothing. This is a true national tragedy! (Itogi.ru)

About alternative and erotica

We need to provide an alternative in the form of good and interesting products. Then no one will be interested in nonsense. Nobody watches pornography for a long time because it becomes boring. But everyone loves and watches beautiful erotica. (Interview Magazine)

Mikhail Piotrovsky: “Our task is to teach people to understand art.” Photo: www.globallookpress.com

About the imperial state

In an empire, the peoples, on the one hand, feel bad, and on the other, good. They are involved in its great tasks and great glory. Let us not forget that the empire is always proud of the fact that it consists of many peoples and is proud of its actually existing cultural diversity. The Louvre, the Hermitage, and the British Museum were born of empires and enjoy collecting things and art objects from different civilizations and cultures. The Empire knows how to admire all this. And it is through imperial museums that people often master “their” culture and understand “their” civilization. The clarity of imperial principles - freedom of faith, language, culture up to a certain point, and then - the power of the emperor held the world. (RG.ru)

About the crisis

During a crisis, everyone starts going to the museum, and the number of visitors increases sharply. And so it is everywhere in the world. You cannot buy a new car, but you can often go to the museum and enjoy it. They walk and walk. Either there is nowhere to go, or they are looking for a reason for optimism. (Forbes.ru)

About literature

I think that the Strugatsky brothers were the best writers of our era, of our youth, and in general all Russian literature then came out of science fiction, because everything is written by famous current writers, they write fiction, but it’s just like that, less interesting than how they wrote Strugatsky. It was both high literature and fascinating literature. (Echo of Moscow)

About the legendary scarf

My wife believes that the scarf came from my passion for the Bedouins, like an Arabist's overalls. I only take it off when they give me orders. And there was another incident, at the opening of the session of the British Parliament, where the queen was. My wife can wear a scarf, but not me. Their vaunted democracy does not live up to ours. (Tatler magazine)

Mikhail Piotrovsky: “During a crisis, everyone starts going to the museum, the number of visitors increases sharply. And so it is everywhere in the world.” Photo: www.globallookpress.com

About the origins of management

Archeology is a discipline that, in Soviet times, combined management, money-seeking, science and cunning financial reporting. So, with my archaeological experience, it is easier for me to get used to the market, which, despite all this, must still be regulated. How? Yes, probably by conscience. (Teacher's newspaper)

About provocations

Provocation and conflict teach you to think. And feel. If nothing touches you, there will be no penetration, no connection with art. A museum should teach you to think and make you argue. Avant-garde art was born this way—out of conflict. (News Time)

About art appreciation

If a thing is in a museum, it means it is art. How to treat art and even what is extremist and what is not extremist in it, what is indecent and what is decent - only museums are the final judges here. (AiF)

About authenticity

People stand in line for hours at the Hermitage, although any painting can be perfectly viewed on a computer screen or in a book. But in the museum everyone understands that they are seeing a genuine thing, and this is a special impression. People really need it in today's world, where you don't know what or how to believe. (IA Rosbalt)

Mikhail Piotrovsky: “Provocation, conflict teach you to think.” Photo: www.globallookpress.com

About urban space

The most terrible changes in the city are not even related to architecture. This is a huge number of cars that pollute the city. These “cockroaches” that are everywhere and because of which the city is not visible. Sometimes on a weekend they are not there, and suddenly you see how beautiful it is around! (Evening Petersburg)

About tourism

Tourism is generally a very corrupting thing, including for the state. We know of dozens of countries, including Egypt, that have tried to live on the services of visiting foreigners. In this regard, I even prefer what Iraq did. Monuments and ancient cities were restored there, cultural heritage was preserved, but above all for its citizens. (Expert North-West)

About icons

An icon in a museum is the work of a talented author, but in a church it is an object and method of worship: there is no time to delve into the nuances and admire the work of a master. The Hermitage, as well as the Tretyakov Gallery, houses thousands of icons. And with each one, I assure you, you can make a full copy, and then consecrate it and pray. (AiF)

About public opinion

I am a scientist, and therefore I am skeptical about all kinds of public opinion polls. And I absolutely don’t believe in the reliability of statistical calculations. The broad masses, if you work with them correctly, will say what is expected of them. (

Mikhail Piotrovsky in the foyer of the Hermitage Theater.

The word “Hermitage” now sounds fashionable. In the summer, the oldest Russian museum thundered with an Annie Leibovitz exhibition. Then I went to the Venice Biennale of Contemporary Art. Moreover, he brought not some St. Petersburg pride like Novikov’s neo-academicists, but the archives of the Moscow conceptualist Prigov. And now he has opened and is showing until mid-January in his Greco-Roman halls an exhibition of abstract sculptures by the living British monumentalist Antony Gormley. Has Dickens's "antique shop" fallen, where generations of people went to see Catherine's tapestries, Rembrandt's "Danae" and Matisse's "Dance"? And where is the director, Mikhail Piotrovsky, looking?

The all-powerful owner of the Winter Palace and Palace Square, who prohibits skating rinks and allows Madonna concerts, the “scarf man,” Mikhail Piotrovsky has long been more than the director of the museum. And now he contemplates the domes and spiers of the Peter and Paul Fortress through the window of his reception room: a stone face, one hand clenched into a fist, an office folder in the other, rectangular glasses with metal frames, a dark blue suit with a matching tie... Piotrovsky then either the colossus - Peter the Great, performed by Stalin's favorite artist Simonov, or the "red director" of the Chernomyrdin era.

Mikhail Borisovich, what needs to be done for you to take off your scarf?

Should I take off my scarf? Please! - Piotrovsky immediately pulls off his legendary black muffler.

Can you tie it like a youth? Well, a clamp?

The photographer takes an almost historical shot. And I quote to Piotrovsky the response of the Hermitage press service to my letter asking whether their director would agree to change clothes for the sake of filming for VOGUE: “No, he is a more than serious person.” A serious man begins to smile.

My stylist is my wife, she suggests, I agree if I like it. Here's a scarf. Everyone always wonders why I wear it. And I just like it. I put it on fifteen years ago and never take it off. When I leave the house, I always wear a scarf. Let's go into the halls, but I need to lock the door.

And Piotrovsky naturally takes a bunch of keys from his pocket, puts us out of the reception area, locks himself inside and appears from the back door around the corner.

His assistants have the day off (we meet on Sunday), and Piotrovsky, who turns sixty-seven in December, stopped by to speak to the students. The Hermitage has come up with a new program for young people - with lectures, master classes and competitions like “Guess which masterpiece is in which hall.”

There is still time before the lecture, and the director takes me to show the Gormley exhibition. Through the Hall of Augustus, where the avant-garde of the grandmother of modern art, Louise Bourgeois, who died last year, is permanently displayed next to the busts of Tiberius and Nero, to the Hall of Dionysus and the Roman Courtyard.

In the first, the Olympian gods were removed from their pedestals and placed directly on the floor. And seventeen cast-iron sculptures by Gormley were installed in the neighboring courtyard. Why such sacrifices?

The viewer passes to the abstract, crude bodies of Gormley's people through a series of perfect bodies of gods - but equal to him, the viewer. He was used to them looking down on him.

But haven't you started too late? And why with Bourgeois, Gormley - honored veterans...

Wrong question. The Hermitage has always been involved in contemporary art. What is the collection of Catherine the Second, with which the museum began? She collected contemporary art - she ordered Chardin, Houdon, Reynolds. Our principle is that art is one thing and there have been no revolutions in it.

In his reception room overlooking the Neva.

In 1930–1940, the Hermitage was given part of the nationalized private collections of Shchukin and Morozov, collectors of the then current impressionist artists. This is how Van Gogh, Cezanne, and Kandinsky appeared in the museum. In 1956, a retrospective of the still living Pablo Picasso was held and the third floor was opened, especially for European art of the 20th century. In 1967, already under Boris Piotrovsky, the father of the current director - a prodigy of Stalinist archeology, academician, Hero of Socialist Labor, who headed the Hermitage for twenty-six years - Lydia Delectorskaya donated a collection of Matisse's works to the museum. Eleven years later, it was here that the first Andy Warhol exhibition in Russia took place.

But the real window to Europe and America was opened by Piotrovsky II. In 2000, the Hermitage staged the first Warhol retrospective and showed the latest masterpieces of Jackson Pollock. In 2004, the first exhibitions in Russia of the most expensive ones in Russia were held here - the Russian underground artist, the Muscovite emigrant Kabakov and the American abstract artist Rothko. Moscow will see them only in the late 2000s at Garage.

With Kabakov’s “Toilet in the Corner” and “Loneliness in the Closet,” which he donated to the Hermitage, we began forming a collection of contemporary art,” recalls Piotrovsky.

Since then, Bourgeois and Rauschenberg, Polke and Soulages have appeared in the collection of the Hermitage 20/21 project, within the framework of which exhibitions of contemporary art are held. But among the Russians there are only Tselkov and Novikov. But it started well. In 1964, an in-museum exhibition of works by the team was organized, including the disgraced Mikhail Shemyakin, who was then working as a rigger.

That exhibition led to political repression, the resignation of director Artamonov... It took us a whole year to get out. This was a tragedy for the museum and for our art in general. Then it became clear how dangerous shocking behavior was for the museum. And that the Hermitage needs its own way in communicating with contemporary art.

While we are walking around the museum, like Sokurov’s “Russian Ark” - without interruption, I tell Piotrovsky that for me he is, first of all, an Arabist scholar, who was cited very abundantly in my institute diploma.

I sometimes joke that being an orientalist is my profession, and working here is a hobby: there can’t be others with such busyness. By the way, for almost eighty years the Hermitage has been headed by either orientalists or archaeologists. I am an orientalist-archaeologist. An orientalist is an obligation to live in several worlds, an archaeologist is an understanding of where to spend money and how to account for it: you live on expeditions. I was recently asked: “Why is your Islamic art department in the worst condition?” This is true. It is uncomfortable to put your interests first.

He recalls his internship in Nasser’s Egypt, how in the seventies he taught history to the hierarchs of socialist South Yemen - and says that the current revolutions in the East are a personal pain for him. And then he moves on to contemporary art: it has a future, and an interesting one, Piotrovsky is convinced, precisely in the Muslim East.

Islam does not welcome images of people, but abstractions do. It is easier to create a contemporary art museum in Dubai or Baghdad, and it will flourish.

On the Soviet staircase of the Hermitage.

With this and his biography - born in Yerevan, great-great-great-grandfather - Catholic, father - Russian with Polish roots, “son-in-law of the Armenian people”, who spent half his life in the Caucasus, exploring the state of Urartu, mother - Armenian - Piotrovsky explains the universality of himself and his Hermitage.

This is not an art museum, it is a museum of world culture.

This is how it began for Piotrovsky, at the age of four - not with “Danae”, but with military oriental drums in the Arsenal and parquet mosaics.

Isn't it a shame that your son is unlikely to replace you in your post? By the way, have you already decided for yourself when to retire?

Fate decides such things, and such questions are indecent. In 2014 the Hermitage is two hundred and fifty. In particular, a museum of the 19th-20th centuries will open in the Eastern wing of the General Staff building; there will also be contemporary art there - demonstrations of video art and performances. And my son, an economist, is involved in publishing. He also publishes books about the Hermitage. My daughter lives in Moscow, she is a banker, I consult with her on all sorts of economic matters. Maybe the children will continue to participate in the life of the museum. But the Hermitage is not only the Piotrovsky family. It is customary for us to work with families - employees, caretakers.

Since the Hermitage is both family and home, what is your favorite place here now?

I’ll say it now, and then everyone will come and ask me to take pictures there. I once went to Japan and somewhere mentioned that I liked black beer. So then in all the cities where we were, the Japanese ran around looking for black beer for me. But I can’t drink it that much. Right now I’m walking around admiring the Jordan Stairs. We just restored it.

Finally we reach the Hermitage Theater. The seven-row amphitheater is full of schoolchildren and students. “Sit down in the orchestra pit,” Piotrovsky suggests. From there you cannot see how he speaks, and therefore you especially listen to his words. For example, that the museum does not have curators, these “always the smartest people in the museum,” but there are research assistants. That it was not the Hermitage that had the honor of participating in the last Venice Biennale, but the Biennale that the Hermitage hosted. Piotrovsky is again a pillar to match Alexandria.

Are you serious about the honor of the Biennale being hosted by the Hermitage? - I ask as we sit down in his office under a portrait of his father.

Well, this is so that young people will get into it,” the director smiles. - The Hermitage at the Biennale is a different genre for us, we performed brazenly and self-confidently. I generally like to take risks, to shock. A year ago we held an exhibition of Picasso - we have never had such a large exhibition in the main halls. Colleagues from the Parisian museum, when they saw all these golden columns, were dumbfounded and tried to cover them up. But I was against it. We do everything so that, in any case, all our things are either completely invented by us, or with a sensitive Hermitage accent.

“Apollos” by the main St. Petersburg artist of the 1990s, the founder of neo-academicism, Timur Novikov, was exhibited in the General Staff Building - with a view of the Alexandria Column, Montferrand’s paraphrase of the Roman Column of Trajan. When they decided to exhibit photography in 1998, they began (to the disapproval of critics who believed that photography had no place next to painting) with a retrospective of Irving Penn. A status portraitist of Picasso, Stravinsky, Duchamp, the father of modern fashion photography, the author of American VOGUE covers of the fifties and highly artistic still lifes - that is, a creator close to what is already hanging in the Hermitage. And when they later brought black-and-white Polaroids of naked models, orchids and stars of the underground classic Robert Mapplethorpe, they hung them interspersed with engravings of the Dutch Mannerists of the 16th century. Those who saw that exhibition claim that they understood where the cult of perfect bodily beauty that reigned in fashion and gloss in the eighties came from.

Shouldn't we make a purely fashion exhibition of costumes? Chanel and Dior were shown at the Pushkin Museum. And your last one was in 1987 - a retrospective of Yves Saint Laurent...

Wrong question again! We were pioneers in this too. It’s just the same here as with contemporary art - we need our Hermitage stories. In the 2000s we exhibited works by Lamanova and Charles Worth: they sewed for empresses - that’s our story. Or what happened with the Annie Leibovitz photo exhibition. It consisted of two parts: one - the legendary “ceremonial” portraits of stars for Vanity Fair and VOGUE. The second is photographs of the newborn children of Leibovitz, father, life partner Susan Sontag, including the time of her struggle with cancer. And we placed these purely personal photographs in the study-bedroom of Alexander II: he was brought to this room after the assassination attempt, he died in it, and here everything is preserved as is. These walls have seen birth, growing up, life and death. Where else can this be done besides the Hermitage?

Irina Piotrovskaya, the wife of the director of the Hermitage, one of the most famous Russian managers, works as a project director at the Fashion House of Tatyana Parfenova. We spoke with her on Friday, at the end of the day, in the production area, far from the minimalist windows of the Fashion House. While they were talking, Mikhail Borisovich called his wife twice - a dacha was planned for the weekend.
— Irina Leonidovna, is it difficult to be the wife of the symbol of St. Petersburg, whose name is inextricably linked with both the city and one of the best museums in the world?
-- Difficult. Very hard. This man grew up in a special environment, from childhood he moved in a certain circle of people of a certain mind and position. Having only become a little larger than a table, he already helped his father - he worked on an archaeological expedition in Armenia (Boris Piotrovsky - director of the Hermitage in 1964-1990 - Ed.). When he was 18 years old and studying at the Faculty of Oriental Studies, he was already translating for very high government delegations. In general, it’s difficult to measure yourself next to him.

How does Mikhail Borisovich fight his cult of personality?
- He doesn’t fight at all: there is no cult. Maybe because he is a rather private person. And his ability to control himself is not a deliberate “oh, excuse me”, “let me pass”... He is tactful in the same way with everyone. Stars are some on television, others at home, third, tenth. Piotrovsky is the same everywhere.

And yet, in Russia, the cult of personality is difficult to avoid for those who find themselves in power, or for those whose word means a lot to the authorities.
- I think a lot depends on the environment in which a person works. For example, this very cult is rather being created for Putin. I worked with Putin for 6 years. We started together when he was recruiting a team for the External Relations Committee. The most difficult years, when there was only enough bread left in the city for 5 days... We were spinning around like crazy. I am an international specialist, graduated from Moscow in financial and economic relations, monetary and financial relations, with a specialization in Arab countries. Here, in St. Petersburg, there were no specialists in market relations. Putin himself recruited people - there was a strong, good team. A person is created by his environment.

Does your spouse involve you in business decisions?
- At home, everyone is equal. I help him as much as possible. As for work, I never interfere in his affairs. This is not the kind of business where a husband, for example a restaurant director, advises how something can be changed in the business. The Hermitage is too huge a machine.

Is your son Boris currently working on the Hermitage website?
- He is studying at Finek, in his fourth year, at the Faculty of Management. When Borya was little, Boris Borisovich brought him a computer console for his TV. Back then, no one had anything like this. And when he was 10 years old, he was already fluent in using a computer. When he was in the last grades of school, a computer department appeared in the Hermitage. When my son was 13, he already had the best website. He is still leading projects in the Hermitage. But he was never carried away by the design path.

As an economist, have you influenced your son?
- We wanted him to go to the oriental department, like our daughter, who graduated from the Arabic department, but now works at Dresdner Bank in Moscow, heads the foreign exchange operations department. It turns out that I, as a financier, influenced her, plus several languages ​​that she knows thanks to the oriental faculty. She is an efficient girl. Married.

You didn't want to send Boris to study abroad?
- My son will graduate from university next year and is learning two languages ​​- English and French. But to study abroad? Mashenka left home, but I don’t want to let go of my second child. Maybe he will stay there. Even now he needs to be pushed on trips. We tell him: Borya, you need language, you need to see how people work.

And you, as a Muscovite, immediately felt good in St. Petersburg? After all, you found yourself in a family with strong St. Petersburg traditions. How do you like it here?
“I still can’t get used to the city.” Everything was great in the family, of course. How can it not be great when Boris Borisovich is next to you! Boris Borisovich Piotrovsky was an amazing man. Misha looks more like his mother outwardly, and more like his father internally. But more dynamic. Now I'm used to St. Petersburg. But when I come to Moscow... I would like to live in Moscow. Moscow absorbs everything faster. In St. Petersburg there is nobility, delicacy, calm. But I miss the dynamics. And I can’t stand it when St. Petersburg residents themselves say “Peter.” It's so cheesy.

What do you remember from the St. Petersburg traditions of the Piotrovsky family?
— When Borenka was little, Mikhail Borisovich’s mother forced us to go for walks with the children. I really didn’t want to go for a walk. We came to the Hermitage and walked around the halls. I sat my son on my hip, and we walked and watched for hours. I didn’t tell Borya: look what a picture, the author is such and such, remember. No. I began to watch Borya - and one day I discovered that he was looking at the floor. We move from hall to hall, the floor pattern changes - Borya looks at the floor for two hours. Next time he "leads" the ceiling. He had his own passions. There is one painting, he called it “Kapochka”, in the Spanish hall, I forgot the author. He approached her as if she were alive, and even talked to her. Then they returned home, and he said: “Oh, mom, Kapochka has come.”

The capital's media call Mikhail Piotrovsky the best manager in Russia. What do you think of it?
- He should head the company... I learn about his affairs mainly through television. Or, for example, today I read in Business Petersburg that he signed some kind of agreement. This morning at 8.15 I watched his live broadcast and thus found out what was happening in the Hermitage. Sometimes I think: wow, what a great idea! This is not discussed at home: if a person comes every day at 11 or 12 o’clock at night, he needs rest. And then I’ll keep pestering you: what’s interesting about you, tell me...

Is a home a family's fortress?
- Absolutely. And no extra people, teas, calls. I'm trying to protect him somehow. He needs a break from people.

Does Mikhail Borisovich correspond to the image of an oriental man?
- No, although perhaps he is a bearer of the eastern temperament. I noticed his temperament in Iraq, where we met. When we got off the plane in Baghdad, it turned out that no one was meeting the delegation. Mikhail Borisovich alone knew about this in advance - but he slept peacefully on the plane. Then they brought us to the embassy, ​​settled us, we’ll sort it out, they say. We were given some kopecks, and we decided to spend them entirely on museums. Mikhail Borisovich immediately took over and led us - it was so exciting!

How does your family relax?
— Every year we dream of spending 3 weeks outside the city in Komarovo. But it never works out. Such is the dream. Stay together, sleep, relax.

How did you get to Tatyana Parfenova?
- It happened by accident. We knew Tatyana before, when I was still working at Smolny. After those huge, powerful problems that we had to work on in the Committee on External Relations, this is a completely different world. I work as a project director. Traveling to ready-to-wear shows should have an economic return, not just good reviews in the newspapers.

Whose idea was it to sell Tatiana Parfenova's embroidered scarves in the Hermitage?
-- Not mine. It was decided without me. I’m watching on TV: my husband is standing with Tatyana Parfenova - and both are happy. She is a worthy designer and deserves to have her products sold in the Hermitage. Foreigners buy her things willingly. Tanya is very sensitive to fashion, she feels it about a year in advance.

Who dresses Mikhail Borisovich?
- Basically, of course, I advise something. Both here and on trips. But this happens with shouts, scandals, he doesn’t want to go - it’s a terrible thing to drag him into a store, force him to try on something. Scarves? Somehow they took root on their own. He buys them, I buy them. I even had the impression that this was somehow connected with the Arab world. He says he dreams in Arabic. Arabs and Bedouins cover their faces with scarves. He was once the leader of an international expedition to Yemen. And then in the photo I saw the scarf on him for the first time. Maybe this is something unconscious, in no way borrowed, for example, from Italian or French fashion. He even sits at the dacha in a shirt and a scarf around his neck. He says he feels so comfortable.

Where do you dress?
— I really like Tanya Parfenova’s clothes, especially the business suit. I practically don't wear skirts - only trousers. Where I worked before required a white shirt and jacket. I got used to him. And Tanya also makes elegant suits. I love.

With your overall family employment, who takes care of the house? Do you use the services of interior designers to decorate your home or cottage?
“I can’t imagine Mikhail Borisovich bringing a designer and him saying: hang this here, and put that there.” Maybe there is such a designer, but I can’t imagine him in our house. We used to enjoy going to Nalichnaya to an antique store and buying some things. This is how the house slowly came together.

Do you or Mikhail Borisovich often buy books?
- Under my pressure, he buys them less now. But each exhibition is accompanied by an album. The rest are scientific publications. There are things he needs - these are his life and work. In general, we have a lot of books - we simply have nowhere to keep them. There are no books in the rooms. Where people rest, there are none - otherwise you can go crazy.

Why do they love Piotrovsky?
- He is a man of amazing nobility and decency. And this cannot be ignored. In the Hermitage, everything he does is for the people: so that people go to the Hermitage. Well, let's cancel the discounts for children and win a penny. If children don’t run around the streets in winter, but come to the Hermitage and just sit, that’s already good. They feel warm and good. Today they laugh, tomorrow they think - this is very important.