Dmitry Medvedev visited the expositions of the participating museums and spoke at the festival’s opening ceremony.
Visit to the expositions of the participating museums
Address at the opening ceremony
The Prime Minister has visited the expositions of the participating museums of the Intermuseum festival, which will be one of the largest events of the Year of Culture in Russia
With Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky
With Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin and fashion designer Valentin Yudashkin
With Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin
The Intermuseum 2014 International Festival of Museums
Opening remarks at the Intermuseum 2014 International Festival of Museums
With Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky
The main theme of the festival this year is Museums in the Digital Era: Museums in the Information Space.
Over 200 museums have opened expositions on two floors of Manezh, which is also housing an exhibition of objects of art that the Ministry of Culture recently bought for Russian museums.
The Ministry also presented its priority projects at the festival, including those held to mark the 250th anniversary of the Hermitage, 100 years since the beginning of World War I and the history of space exploration, as well as a virtual Museum of Contemporary Western Art.
With Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky
Other festival events include a business networking venue and Techno Museum, an exhibition of museum technology and equipment.
While touring the exhibition, the Prime Minister visited the expositions of Crimean and Sevastopol museums and spoke with their employees.
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Dmitry Medvedev’s opening remarks at the opening ceremony:
Opening remarks at the Intermuseum 2014 International Festival of Museums
Good afternoon dear friends, colleagues. Today we will be opening a wonderful exhibition for the Intermuseum 2014 International Festival of Museums, one of the most unique events of the Year of Culture in Russia.
Clearly, culture does not need visas or any other documents. But it needs government assistance and support to be able to develop. It is impressive that the Intermuseum festival has attracted the global museum elite for 16 years.
Dmitry Medvedev: "Clearly, culture does not need visas or any other documents. But it needs government assistance and support to be able to develop. It is impressive that the Intermuseum festival has attracted the global museum elite for 16 years."
We are glad to welcome everyone. This festival is a good opportunity to discuss novel museum technology. The festival was in fact designed to help museum workers to learn about innovative museum technology, new museum equipment, and modern trends in museum development, as well as to see which of them they could use.
Over 200 museums from many countries are represented in the Manezh Exhibition Hall. Russia is being represented by its largest museums, small museums and even school museums. Each of them is valuable in one’s own way, because they offer a view of all sectors of life and different artistic trends, the diversity of Russian culture, as well as Russia’s contribution to the global cultural tradition, the global heritage.
Dmitry Medvedev: "This festival is a good opportunity to discuss novel museum technology. The festival was in fact designed to help museum workers to learn about innovative museum technology, new museum equipment, and modern trends in museum development, as well as to see which of them they could use."
Every year, up to 80 million people visit museums in Russia, which is a substantial figure. Over 25% of them are young people and children below 17 years of age. By the way, we recently held a very interesting event, Museum Night – a day, or rather, a night, when people can enjoy the arts absolutely free of charge.
It is highly important that new museums open in the Russian regions every year, and that they subsequently receive new exhibits. These are both public and private museums, with private museums being a relatively new feature in Russia. Museums also offer new services. Most museums have adopted a new working schedule and now work longer hours on some days. The number of visitors grows during these extended hours.
But museums also have problems, which are common to all museums worldwide: how to attract people to museums in the age of information technology, when they can see the overwhelming majority of exhibits on the Internet. To attract people is a special art, and there are no universal solutions. Each museum should find its own solution. I’m sure that some ideas will be presented during this festival. Anyway, I am confident that museums, including in Russia, have a brilliant future.
Dmitry Medvedev: "Every year, up to 80 million people visit museums in Russia, which is a substantial figure. Over 25% of them are young people and children below 17 years of age."
I’d like to congratulate all the participants in the Intermuseum 2014 festival on its opening and wish all of you all the best, and good luck.
Thank you.
