XXVII MEETING OF THE INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY BOARD OF THE STATE HERMITAGE MUSEUM

On 27 August 2021, the 27th session of the State Hermitage’s International Advisory Board took place in an online format dictated by the pandemic. 

Hermitage Director Mikhail Piotrovsky conferred with his colleagues and compared with their experience the problems and prospects for museum life in a post-Covid world. The main theme of the tactical and strategic discussions was the development of a set of tools to preserve the successful practices of the Greater Hermitage project (open storage, a global reach and the public forum). Topics for discussion were the rules and protocols ensuing from the Hermitage’s new charter; the retention of the system of time slots, fixed routes and time quotas for tourist groups; the problems of inequality arising from an increased proportion of well-prepared and educated visitors; the worldwide discussion on the legitimacy of a museum’s privilege to be the chief interpreter of its own collections; the importance of retaining temporary exhibitions as a bridge between countries; new methods of fund-raising in conditions of a steep increase in the wealth of the rich and of the public’s preparedness to contribute to the collective financing of the acquisition of exhibits for the museum, and much else.

The members of the Advisory Board gave a high assessment of the Hermitage’s diverse and successful activities under the conditions of the pandemic, its capacity to organize major exhibitions and publish books, as well as its diplomatic role within the cultural sphere in Russia and worldwide.

We remind the reader of the composition of the State Hermitage’s International Advisory Board, which is a unique example of scholarly collaboration between high-ranking professionals:

Chairman of the Board – Gabriele Finaldi, Director of The National Gallery, London
Board members:
Marion Ackermann, Director General of Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden
Mounir Bouchenaki, Former Assistant Director-General for Culture, UNESCO
Michael Brand, Director of Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Michael Conforti, Former Director of Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown
Stefano De Caro, Special Advisor to the Director-General, ICCROM, Rome
Taco Dibbits, General Director of Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Kaywin Feldman, Director of The National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Max Hollein, Director of the Metropolitan Museum, New York
Barbara Jatta, Director of Vatican Museums
Henri Loyrette, Former President and General Director of Musée du Louvre, Paris
Alfred Pacquement, Former Director of Musée national d’art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou,
Paris
Hermann Parzinger, President of Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin
Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg
Stuart Gibson, Secretary to the International Advisory Board; Former Director of Hermitage
UNESCO Project