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Herbert Seevinck is the new Chairman of the Dutch Friends of the Hermitage

Published 07 February 2021

On Monday 1 February, after almost twenty cumulative years as Chairman of the Dutch Friends of the Hermitage, Mr Ernst Veen transferred the Chairman’s gavel to Mr Herbert Seevinck. He did so in digital presence of the Board of the Dutch Friends Foundation, Annabelle Birnie and Paul Mosterd of the Hermitage Amsterdam Direction, and of Prof. Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage Museum.

Mr Seevinck has been a Friend of the Hermitage since the Hermitage Amsterdam opened in 2004, and has been a Board Member from 2016 onwards. He is very well acquainted with museums thanks to a number of major wayfinding projects he developed, for the State Hermitage among others. Moreover he is extremely passionate about Russian history and the Romanov Family. His first act as Chairman was to grant Mr Veen the title of Honorary President of the Dutch Friends Foundation for Life.

Ernst Veen initiated many great mutual relations as Director of De Nieuwe Kerk Amsterdam (1981–2011), by organising dozens of great exhibitions showing the art and cultural expression of civilisations across the world. One of the closest connections was with the State Hermitage Museum. These cultural ties eventually led to the foundation of the Hermitage Amsterdam in 2004, of which Mr Veen was the Director until 2011. In 1994 he founded the Friends of the Hermitage Foundation, which he presided over from 1994 to 2004, and again from 2011 to 2021.

Herbert Seevinck: ‘I remember very well one of the very first exhibitions at the Hermitage Amsterdam, dedicated to the last tsar, Nicholas II. To me that was a great and joyful show of recognition. It is an immense pleasure to be part of this great adventure and I am looking forward to supporting the State Hermitage with our Friends.’

Ernst Veen: ‘The Friends of the Hermitage is really the most joyful museum club in the Netherlands. To be chairman of that club was truly an absolute delight!’