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Earlier that day, Vladimir Putin visited the Hermitage halls of antique art and presented the Order for Services to the Fatherland, I Degree, to Mikhail Piotrovsky.

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Director General of the State Hermitage Museum Mikhail Piotrovsky: Mr President, allow me to express my gratitude once again for the great honour, the decoration, the greetings, and your attention to the Hermitage and, broadly speaking, to culture and global events.

I would like to brief you on what has been accomplished and how the Hermitage has evolved recently, if you don’t mind.

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: It’s been a long time since my last time here. But it is always a pleasure.

Mikhail Piotrovsky: Today, we strolled through the Halls of Classical Antiquity, which you certainly have not visited in quite a while. You have been to others more recently.

What have we achieved in the last decade? We implemented the Greater Hermitage project – that is what it is called: the Greater Hermitage.

To begin with, there were two Hermitages in St Petersburg. This is Palace Square, the staircase. Here are some figures from our budget, which amounts to five billion, of which we generate 39 percent ourselves. This is the Leonardo da Vinci Hall, which has been extensively renovated.

We have just recently inaugurated the Peter the Great Gallery, with more halls dedicated to his memory. Peter the Great Halls serve as a model for our potential initiatives related to Alexander Nevsky, as this is the Peter the Great Gallery and the entire history of the creation of his image. We can use it as a reference, as an example, but very carefully.

This is the permanent exhibition of China. We are opening a few more halls tomorrow. This is our knowhow – this is the Hall of Ancient Urartu. And here we have a small part of the Erebuni museum in Yerevan, items we brought here. We are now implementing a similar project with Oman: there is a Hermitage hall there, and we have their hall here. It is fascinating, beneficial, and provides a mutual guarantee, so to speak.

This is our magnificent Caspar David Friedrich exhibition. It is our answer – an answer to everyone, a grand European, global event. Friedrich is a great German painter, appreciated by them like Albrecht Dürer. A Romantic from the 19^th century. The finest collection of Friedrich's works outside of Germany is in Russia. In times when he was famous in Germany but not anywhere else, Russians bought his works. Which Russians, you ask? Nicholas I, Alexandra Feodorovna, and Zhukovsky. Thus, a grand collection was assembled. Additionally, when he faced difficulties, Nicholas supported him. In essence, their history is non-existent without Russia, and this great artist would not have existed. This is our contribution to the development of European culture. Hence, Friedrich is of utmost importance to us.

This is our Manege, and here we have an exhibition dedicated to the Mint. To some extent, it also serves as our exhibition for the 80^th anniversary of Victory, as there are splendid displays illustrating how new awards were conceived during the evacuation. It was during this time that the Order of Suvorov and the Order of Nakhimov were established, and there were plans to establish the Order of Stalin, although they ultimately decided against it. It is a marvellous account of the developments and ideological rearmament that occurred during the war.

And here is our section of the Military Gallery, specifically the Field Marshals' Hall. This is Wittgenstein, the Field Marshal who saved St Petersburg in 1812. We regularly hold military ceremonies here. We have revived several of them, as you may be aware, and they have since become nationwide events. Tomorrow, on December 25, we will observe the Day of the Expulsion of the Enemy from the Fatherland, which was established by a manifesto proclaimed by Alexander I as soon as the border of Russia was reached. It was both a public and a church holiday. The church holiday survived, but the public holiday is now exclusively observed by us each year at the Hermitage. We will have a prayer service and a small parade.

Our new building sits on Palace Square. The main headquarters feature a grand staircase, with the principal hall being the Matisse Hall. The Fabergé Hall is contiguous to it. On the right, you will find the Rothschild Egg, which you presented to us.

There is also a magnificent exhibition dedicated to Roerich, which is housed in large halls with very high ceilings. It is a strikingly awesome exhibition showcasing Roerich's depiction of Russia, Roerich's Himalayas, his ties with India, and the Roerich Pact, which later evolved into Dmitry Likhachev’s Culture Rights Declaration. It is a spectacular and beautiful exhibition. That constitutes one aspect of the Hermitage.

Then, there is the second side to the Hermitage, the Old Village Hermitage with open storage facilities and restoration workshops which are open to visitors. Here, we have lecture halls. This is part of New Petersburg. Here, we have a small column called a menhir. If viewed from this angle, it aligns directly with Gazprom Tower. It turns out, in fact, that New Petersburg must save Old Petersburg making sure no more construction takes place in Old Petersburg.

We have already constructed a library, having erected 13 floors, and now we will proceed to furnish it and determine its usage. Inside, there are solar panels. It is all cutting-edge, unparalleled by anything else in the world. Additionally, we have addressed the matter of vaults: these vaults are showcased here, and they remain open. This is the Carriage House, featuring a gift from the Emir of Bukhara to Emperor Alexander, and the tent of Catherine's carriage.

Our remarkable knowhow in the Old Village is the costume exhibition. There is a vault here where the lighting is activated only upon entry. Consequently, the costumes can be displayed for an extended period – ordinarily, costume fabrics cannot be exhibited long-term, as they are damaged by sunlight. However, here it is feasible. Another vault is the open vault of the Bosphorus, an open architectural vault. We rescued the sculptures from the facade of the New Hermitage from deterioration, removed them, and replaced them with replicas. They stand here, visible to all.

This is the Stock Exchange we discussed. Here, incidentally, is an example of how ceremonies might be conducted. We have previously held a few ceremonies here. I believe we celebrate Guard of Russia Day here.

There are two Hermitages in St Petersburg, and five in total across Russia. This year, we inaugurated the one in Orenburg. Additionally, we organise Hermitage Days. Here we have Vyborg, and these are Hermitage Days in Serbia. We conduct fifteen Hermitage Days each year. These always feature exhibitions, lectures, and presentations. This is in Kaliningrad, this is in Yekaterinburg, at the location where our collections were housed during the war, featuring an exhibition of oriental weapons. Next is Kazan, where we have an exhibition of French art – you can see a projection of a Matisse painting.

We have organised 65 exhibitions this year, which is quite numerous; I would suggest we ought to do fewer. Of these, 20 are outside the Hermitage. Two exhibitions in each Hermitage satellite centre in the regions, plus those in Novosibirsk and Omsk. You opened the Hermitage in Omsk together with President of Kazakhstan [Kassym-Jomart Tokayev]. This is the Hermitage in Orenburg, which has just been inaugurated. They have created a jasper room there – it is exceptionally beautiful and impressive.

Exhibitions of new acquisitions are also held. In the library of Nicholas II, which you are well acquainted with, there is furniture recently donated to us by a patron of the arts. The furniture from the imperial yacht Polar Star is a masterpiece of Art Nouveau. It serves as a poignant reminder that this yacht, the Polar Star, later functioned as a depot ship for the Baltic Fleet: during the blockade, it was stationed here and supplied electricity to the Hermitage. Thus, the circles are completed.

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