On 21 September 2019, the Public Forum area of the General Staff building was the venue for the fifth “Discover Your Europe in the Hermitage” international festival.
The main element of the festival was the Fair of Cultures. In one day, festival-goers “visited” 20 European countries whose representatives had prepared more than 50 creative events for Petersburgers. There was a German game inspired by the Grimms’ fairy tales, a French quiz on geography and culture, a Danish master class in Lego that had already proved popular in previous years and a “Swedish corner” where fathers read children stories by Swedish authors.
This year, the festival was visited by Markus Ederer, Ambassador of the European Union to the Russian Federation. He not only viewed all the sections but also tried his luck at the boardgame “A Journey around Europe with Iphigenia” that had been devised for the festival by the State Hermitage’s Sector for Work with Volunteers. The Ambassador observed that for five years running the museum had provided a hospitable home for Europe.
“I can see many people here and that is a good sign. It means that European culture interests people. But Europe is also the Hermitage with its rich collections of European art that people can acquaint themselves with. I think that this is a splendid combination. History, geography and culture unite Russia with Europe.
A new centre of attraction for the public was the time capsule in which anyone who wanted could post a note with their wishes or predictions. The capsule will be opened at the next festival and its visitors will be able to tell which guesses came true. Those who sent their messages into the near future included Markus Ederer and Alexander Prokhorenko, Deputy General Director of the State Hermitage.
The closing event of the festival was a concert prepared by EUNIC (the network of European national institutes of culture), the State Hermitage’s Sector for Work with Volunteers and the consulates of EU countries. The General Director of the Hermitage, Mikhail Piotrovsky, arrived for the start of the concert.
“I have just returned from Europe and there everyone is saying that the climate is bad, and it needs to be changed. In point of fact, the climate turns out to be splendid, when people come together, when there is so much good mood around. In point of fact, the Hermitage is the most suitable place to speak about Europe. The Hermitage revealed Russia to Europe, Europe to Russia. Europe is the Hermitage. Our museum is a symbol of European culture, a universal museum that is a Russian declaration of what Europe is,” Mikhail Piotrovsky said.
The “Discover Your Europe in the Hermitage” festival is a joint initiative of the State Hermitage and the Representation of the European Union in the Russian Federation, which is implemented in close collaboration with general consulates and cultural institutes of EU member states. The festival is timed to take place close to the European Day of Languages, which is celebrated on 26 September. In Russia 2019 was declared the Year of the Theatre that theme broadly shaped the programme of the event.
