The Hermitage Foundation UK, which supports the St Petersburg museum, has now halted its efforts in “building cultural bridges between the UK and Russia”.
Its statement explains: “We are deeply shocked by the events in Ukraine and have suspended all our activities with immediate effect, and cancelled all scheduled events. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Ukraine.”
The foundation is an England-registered charity, which was set up in 2003 to assist the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, with fundraising and other support. No further UK funds will be transferred to Russia in the present situation.
What adds to the significance of the statement is that Mikhail Piotrovsky, the director of the museum, has been a trustee of the charity since 2015 and is its president. He was presumably consulted over the UK foundation’s statement.
Piotrovsky is by far the most important and experienced museum figure in Russia, having directed the Hermitage for 30 years. He also serves as president of the Union of Museums of Russia.
Piotrovsky is now in a sensitive position, as head of Russia’s leading state museum and as an archaeologist and art historian deeply committed to international collaboration.
In a strongly felt statement published by the US-based Hermitage Museum Foundation, Piotrovsky writes: “The world has gone mad, and it will never be the same again. Things that are happening right now are unfathomable, they should never happen.”
He adds: “Yet we must keep calm in this madness, because our mission of protecting cultural bridges between the nations has become even more important than ever. It is for us to keep this fragile connection between people, help the nations listen to each other and get back to dialogue instead of violence. Our coordinated efforts will be needed to help culture survive through turbulent times.”
Piotrovsky concludes that “friendship is tested in difficult times—and I thank you all for your friendly feelings towards the Hermitage”.
Last week, the privately funded Hermitage Amsterdam also cut ties with the St Petersburg museum because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In a statement it said: “For a long time the Hermitage Amsterdam has distanced itself from political developments in Putin’s Russia. Russia’s recent attack on Ukraine makes keeping this distance no longer tenable. War destroys everything.”
