Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, colleagues. Today, we will be speaking about an important event approaching in 2014. I’m referring to the 250^th anniversary of the State Hermitage Museum, which was founded on December 7, if I’m not mistaken.

Mikhail Piotrovsky: Yes, December 7, St Catherine’s Day.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, the day of St Catherine, the patroness of Catherine the Great, who founded the museum in 1764. The Hermitage is no doubt a unique museum. It has over 3 million items in its catalogue. Naturally, many items stored at the Hermitage are of global cultural significance. It is the pride of Russia, and we must make sure that this date is celebrated accordingly. I’m referring not only to the celebration but also to using this anniversary as an occasion to carry out a series of long overdue measures to strengthen the museum. We have discussed a new state-of-the-art storage facility, which would involve a complex of three buildings. If I’m not mistaken, there are also additional construction plans and a third stage. Let’s discuss it.

We need to create conditions for museums to expand their educational programming. Museums are not only meant for storing pieces of art; they are also scientific and educational institutions. I know that you are making a serious effort to bestow this status upon the Hermitage. I’m aware that you have certain ideas concerning the charter of the museum, the Palace Square, and a comprehensive interpretation of the Hermitage's entire architectural complex. There is a wonderful building just opposite the museum. We have agreed with the Ministry of Defence that this, too, will be used by the museum. Let’s discuss this set of issues.

Mikhail Piotrovsky: Here is an album (showing the album)… We have devised an action plan pursuant to your instructions. Some key points are clearly indicated here. Here is the Palace Square… One of the most important issues is Hermitage’s role in the urban environment. Here is the General Staff Building and its Triumphal Arch. We will open passageways along the Small Hermitage building. This will result in a forum here. We will have a brand-new living environment around the museum. Here is the ground floor of the General Staff Building. So, there will be passages from the square to the Neva embankment. Thus, we are developing this environment and further incorporating the museum into the city's layout. Moreover, the Triumphal Arch is a monument to heroes of the Patriotic War of 1812. So, we will create a ceremonial space consisting of these elements.

Here is the General Staff Building. This is what has already been accomplished, and we are halfway through. First, the covered yards and large stairways were completed. So, now we have large halls. In relation to the entire museum, this is the eastern wing of the General Staff Building.

Vladimir Putin: This has already been completed?

Mikhail Piotrovsky: Yes, it has. We are already in the second stage to be finished by 2013.

This is the Small Hermitage building, which was the first premise housing Catherine the Great’s collection. Its ground floor was originally used as a horse stable. Later, it was used as a storage space. We have transferred everything formerly in it to our new storage facility. We will set up a new exhibition hall in it with an entrance of its own, and people will be able to walk from the square to the Neva embankment along this hall. Here is a picture of what it will look like. It will be wonderful.

Next is the Guards Corps Headquarters in the front part of which we intended to establish the Russian Guards museum. I would like to present you with a book: the catalogue of our exhibition dedicated to the Imperial Guards which was successfully held in Paris.

Vladimir Putin: If you remember, this was one of the conditions in the arrangement with Ministry of Defence. It was an idea of yours. The ministry agreed to hand the building over to the Hermitage if you set up the Russian Guards museum inside.

Mikhail Piotrovsky: Just imagine how brilliant it will look. This is only one of the exhibits that may be put on display there.

Next is the restoration of the Winter Palace interior. We are transferring all items stored there to other locations in order to restore the interior. This seems like the most large-scale project. You can see on the other side that the entire iconostasis will be restored. And we intend to do it all by 2012 so that a service can be held in the Winter Palace on December 25, the day the enemy was expelled from Russia. Previously, military parades were held inside the military gallery to mark this day.

The next item is our museum storage facility, which is the third stage we are requesting…

Vladimir Putin: This is the Staraya Derevnya [Restoration and Storage Centre]?

Mikhail Piotrovsky: Yes, it is. This is an innovative work, not a simple museum storage facility. It is an open museum storage complex. It is open for public visits. It is a social centre for the entire neighbourhood. It includes children's recreation centres, exhibition halls, and open storage facilities.

The first stage is marked in black, and here is the second, which will be completed in 2011 and requires some additional financing. And then there's the third stage: we are expanding and building a bridge over the railway. Here is the railway. Mr Yakunin [head of Russian Railways] has agreed to the project. Both the city and the Federal Agency for Atomic Energy (Rosatom) have provided land: the St Petersburg Archeological Museum, the public library, and the publishing center will be located here. This will be a well-developed centre in a residential area. It’s already attracting visitors. This is both for tourists and children. Here you can see a museum depository inside…

Vladimir Putin: Is it a continuation of the museum?

Mikhail Piotrovsky: This is a continuation of the museum with a bit of a different style in terms of its design aesthetics. We would like to receive your support for this facility and for the museum depository. And we would like to ask for the approval of the museum’s charter by the government in order to underscore its special status.

Vladimir Putin: As we did with the Bolshoi Theatre.

Mikhail Piotrovsky: Yes, as is the case with the Bolshoi Theatre and France’s Louvre. Here is a document detailing those items for which we would like to receive support.

Vladimir Putin: Did you calculate the amount of money you need?

Mikhail Piotrovsky: We did. In total, it amounts to 15.7 billion roubles.

Vladimir Putin: So... eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth…

Mikhail Piotrovsky: Museum storage is the most expensive issue. Frankly speaking, the sum would have been smaller if we hadn’t been informed that the projected figures, which were reported to us, were non-existent rather than projected. So we hope to do something at the expense of the funding already stipulated in the budget. As a result, the amount is not actually that large, we think. And it is divided into increments. This is a very thorough plan, which has been approved by the ministry and is being approved everywhere.

Vladimir Putin: What about the charter? What ideas do you have?

Mikhail Piotrovsky: We want it to be approved by the government as in the past. We will not change anything.

Alexander Avdeyev: And we don’t want to implement anything new. The museum will have greater authority if it is approved by the government.

Mikhail Piotrovsky: This will also allow us to acquire funding and other things more easily.

Vladimir Putin: Mr Avdeyev, what would you like to add?

Alexander Avdeyev: I would like to add that the experience of removing museum storage from the centre of the city to new districts has been very positive, since most museum administrators prefer to build storage spaces not far from their museums. But where can this be done in Moscow or St Petersburg? There is simply no room. They are either too expensive, or they spoil historic city centres. And the State Hermitage serves as a prime example of successfully removed storage: apart from being convenient, there is an entire museum centre being built in the new district. This, of course, changes the nature of the museum’s work, and I’m not sure whether the museum’s directors will jump onboard all at once. But this is very good from a social standpoint.

Vladimir Putin: This platform can still be created on an absolutely new technological basis. This is very difficult to do.

Mikhail Piotrovsky: There is a security system. The accessibility matches security perfectly, there are three security levels. Nothing similar can be done there.

Vladimir Putin: No, it is not possible to do it in the centre.

Mikhail Piotrovsky: And the result in a new aesthetics of design. This is an innovation in museum affairs.

Alexander Avdeyev: And another thing: one storage facility can be constructed for several museums.

Vladimir Putin: But I think that….

Alexander Avdeyev: Not with the Hermitage. I’m speaking about regional centres – Arkhangelsk, let’s say, or Tver or Samara. There are several museums in these areas, and each of them requires storage.

Vladimir Putin: It’s possible there. But it is hardly applicable in case of the State Hermitage and the Russian Museum. Their volumes are simply too large. But it is possible in the Russian territories.

Alexander Avdeyev: Yes, and we are drafting a programme on museum storage for the whole of Russia, so that such consolidated facilities can be built. The discrepancy arises because some museums belong to the federal government, while others belong to the respective territories or the regions. But we will make common museum storage facilities.

Vladimir Putin: Good.