The Director General of the Hermitage warned about possible disputes over Egyptian exhibits

Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director General of the State Hermitage Museum, said on December 1 that the opening of the great Egyptian Museum in Giza could provoke new disputes about the return of exhibits to their homeland.

"A large Egyptian museum has been opened in Egypt, and one of the main results of this is the sharply emphasized basis, the demand of the Egyptian government to give away everything Egyptian that is in museums around the world," Piotrovsky said during a broadcast timed to coincide with the Days of the Hermitage.

In his opinion, this can lead to difficult situations for museums, which will have to prove that these objects should remain in foreign collections, including the Hermitage, which has a unique Egyptian collection.

As an example, Piotrovsky cited the situation with Russian icons, works by Rembrandt and other world cultural values that are in museums in different countries. He noted that museums collect world culture by combining the cultural heritage of different nations. In this regard, the issue of returning the exhibits becomes complicated and requires a thoughtful approach.

The Director General of the Hermitage also pointed out the problem of protecting exhibits, noting the need to create a new system of guarantees for the return of items from foreign exhibitions in order to avoid their arrest or return at the request of other countries. He recalled that Russia has a moratorium on the export of cultural property abroad.

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Piotrovsky said in an interview with Vedomosti on October 10 that as part of the upcoming large-scale restoration of the Hermitage, which is being carried out with the support of Rosneft, a permanent exhibition dedicated to Art Nouveau will appear in the museum. According to him, this is a very important style of art that has not been given due attention before.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.