Society and culture: Year of Culture in Saint-Petersburg to be devoted to the anniversary of the Hermitage

The Year of Culture, which starts in Russia in 2014, in St. Petersburg will be devoted to the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the State Hermitage Museum, said the St. Petersburg Governor Georgy Poltavchenko in an interview to leading Russian news agencies.

Next year the Hermitage will celebrate its 250th anniversary. Events dedicated to the anniversary will be held throughout the year. An important part of the celebrations will be the Biennale of Contemporary Art "Manifesto-10", which will take place from June 23 to October 30, 2014.

"From 7 to 10 December 2014 in St. Petersburg will be held the III St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum. It will be held under the auspices of the 250th anniversary of the State Hermitage Museum. We expect to not only confirm, but also surpass the high level forum which was released in the past year", - said Mr. Poltavchenko.

It became known that the governor of St. Petersburg made ​​a final decision to transfer the exchange building on Vasilevsky Island for the State Hermitage Museum, whose director, Michael Piotrowski previously offered to place it in Russian museum guards and heraldry. Head of the city said that the exposition in the new museum will combine military and imperial threads and Exchange will become a branch of the Hermitage, thus, will become a museum of the whole country.

Further, according to the governor, in the framework of the Year of Culture in St. Petersburg on 21-27 July 2014 will be held the International Maritime Festival. The nautical theme will unite dozens of activities from the parade of warships and sports - to fashion shows and theatrical performances.

"From 9 to 12 September 2014 will be held a special session of the International Council of Museums. Also on September 12 at the stadium "Petrovsky" the Opera Festival "Arena di Verona" will present  to St. Petersburg residents one of its best performances - Verdi 's "Aida" directed by Franco Zeffirelli", - added the governor.

Poltavchenko noted that in 2014 will be held several long-awaited events of the urban scale. In particular, it will be completed the large-scale restoration of the Central Exhibition Hall "Manezh" - it will become a modern and technically perfect venue for exhibitions, festivals and other projects. On the basis of Utkin cottages are beginning works of construction of the Museum of Urban Sculpture. In a renovated historic building on the street Mikhailov visitors will be taken with an updated Bread Museum.