"A culture that is confident in itself is not afraid of communication": Piotrovsky spoke in Yekaterinburg
On September 13, in Yekaterinburg, as part of the World Youth Festival, Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director General of the State Hermitage Museum, delivered a lecture titled "Physicists and Lyricists. DNA and the Code of Culture." The lecture was the first event in the program of the educational marathon "Znanie. Pervye" (Knowledge. The First), organized by the Russian "Znanie" Society specifically for the festival. In his speech to the youth audience, Piotrovsky spoke about the high significance of culture in the life of any state, [...]
"A culture confident in itself is not afraid of communication": Piotrovsky spoke in Yekaterinburg
On September 13, in Yekaterinburg, as part of the World Youth Festival, a lecture was held by the Director General of the State Hermitage Museum, Mikhail Piotrovsky, titled "Physicists and Lyricists. DNA and the Code of Culture." This became the first event in the program of the educational marathon "Znanie. Pervye" (Knowledge. The First), which the Russian "Znanie" Society prepared specifically for the festival.
Addressing the youth audience, Piotrovsky spoke about how great the role of culture is in the life of any state, and emphasized that it is culture, and "not economy, not politics, not the army," that determines the unity of a country. At the same time, in his opinion, the era of globalization has ended, and the modern world has become a world of sovereign cultures, which, however, must maintain contact with one another.
— A culture confident in itself is not afraid of communication with others, is not shy, — Piotrovsky stated. — But when you are obsessed with your own culture and consider it solely your property, it is very dangerous. It can simply disappear that way. A truly sovereign culture understands that it constantly needs to relate to other cultures, be open to the world, and constantly communicate with it.
In addition, Piotrovsky noted that the cultural code is not inherited and must be instilled in younger generations — and, according to the director of the Hermitage, the main role in this is played primarily by museums and churches.
According to him, the State Hermitage itself serves as proof of this, which Mikhail Piotrovsky called an "encyclopedia of world culture written in Russian" and a "matrix that builds perceptions of culture": the museum not only houses masterpieces of Russian and foreign fine arts, but is itself an outstanding architectural work and a witness to numerous historical events.
During the lecture, Piotrovsky, among other things, presented to the audience the Hermitage restoration project, already approved by the President of the Russian Federation, and spoke about new exhibits that will be shown to the public after the restoration is completed. Among them are the paintings "Saint Sebastian" by Titian and "The Sacrifice of Isaac" by Rembrandt.
The lecture also touched upon the topic of cultural development through the introduction of digital technologies. The State Hermitage again served as an example of such innovations: to date, a complete digital copy of the museum has been created, available in a special application. "The entire Hermitage has long been digitized and literally lies in my pocket," Piotrovsky noted. The existence of an electronic museum helps to maintain the interest of the current audience and attract a new one — thanks to virtual tours, the opportunity to examine the interior and exhibits in more detail, as well as unique projects that are difficult to realize in reality. Nevertheless, as Mikhail Piotrovsky emphasized, "the digital Hermitage will never replace the real one."