Hermitage museum tour | The Hermitage is ready to stand up for Palmyra
While on the Hermitage museum tour, check out for the collection of artifacts from Palmyra stored in the Hermitage Museum, for it can be used for the reconstruction of the ancient Syrian city.
The Director of the State Hermitage museum Mikhail Piotrovsky said that his museum is ready to help restore the ancient town. Piotrovsky is an expert in the Arab world. He first visited Syria in the 1970s. In an interview with The Art Newspaper he said that museums around the world are preparing "for the moment when it will be possible to recreate Palmyra." The Hermitage is working with its colleagues - at this stage informally - on the collection of photos, prints and other archival documents, depicting the ancient city from all possible angles.
Piotrovsky's initiatives are not limited to Palmyra. He has already spoken about the fate of the cultural heritage of Afghanistan, Iraq, Mali and Yemen. "Today all of a sudden the whole culture is under threat," - he said at the St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum in December. Next month the Hermitage is planning a day of Yemen with thematic exhibitions, film screenings and lectures to draw attention to the Yemeni monuments destroyed during the Saudi bombing. Another 15 museums around the world, including the Louvre, the British Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art are planning to participate in this action.