Hermitage-Russian Ministry of Culture agreement. Works will be allowed to remain in Italy

First signs of détente between Russia and the West coming from culture? Perhaps it is too early to tell, but it is interesting to note that theHermitage in St. Petersburg has reached an agreement with Russia ’s Ministry of Culture to have the works for which, in recent days, the return had been requested to remain in Italy. The news was given by the Hermitage Italy Foundation, which has carried out an important mediation work: “For many days,” says Secretary General Maurizio Cecconi, “we have been dealing with the curators and the protagonists of the Hermitage Museum’s cultural life with the loans made by the Russian museum to organizations and institutions in our country. This is in light of the ultimate request of the Ministry of Culture of Russia to have the works returned to their homeland immediately. Today after several contacts and interlocutions we can say that we have obtained a first and significant result.”

Good news therefore comes from St. Petersburg: The Portrait of a Young Woman with Feathered Hat by Titian Vecellio on loan for the exhibition Titian and the Image of Woman at Palazzo Reale (Milan), which opened a few days ago and will close June 5, Pablo Picasso ’s Young Woman on loan for the Fondazione Alda Fendi-Experiments exhibition until May 27, and the nineteen works loaned for the Grand Tour exhibition at the Gallerie d’Italia in Milan’s Piazza Scala, which is scheduled to close March 27. The works from the Grand Tour exhibition will remain until the end of the show, while no date has been given for the others, but there is certainly no more talk of immediate withdrawal.

“The Hermitage,” says Director General Michail Piotrovsky, "has reached an agreement with the Russian Ministry of Culture according to which the demand for an immediate withdrawal of the works we lend is mitigated. The paintings by Titian and Picasso will therefore continue to hang on museum walls for several weeks. The same applies to the Hermitage works that are part of the Grand Tour exhibition, which, upon agreement with the organizers, will be withdrawn immediately upon official closure. It is very sorry that cultural relations between our countries have collapsed in such ’darkness.’ We can only get out of it if we preserve the atmosphere of goodwill and goodwill. We always repeat that the bridges of culture are blown last. Now the time has come to protect them. It is we will try to show how it is done. We must clearly agree on when and especially how the works will return to the Hermitage. We will keep the Centro Ermitage Italia, even though its operational activities have been suspended, and our Italian partners informed. I hope Italy can help create a new mechanism of interaction between cultural institutions given a long national tradition of love and respect for culture, art and museums. Today’s museum situation must show a way of solving serious problems in a very complicated world so as not to become an instrument of political struggle. We need new approaches and agreements without a return to Cold War rhetoric."

Hermitage-Russian Ministry of Culture agreement. Works will be allowed to remain in Italy

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