At the beginning of the 21st century, this was a real breakthrough in the field of museum affairs. If previously it was necessary to personally visit the repositories of paintings in order to examine them in all details, then with the advent of “digital” the distance between them and the viewer was reduced to a minimum. The small city of Kirishi, with a population of 50,000, was one of the first in the country to experience all the benefits of this progress.
Any museum branch, even a virtual one, first of all needs a home. By 2003, a large-scale reconstruction of the Palace of Culture of KINEF LLC, the main attraction of the city, was carried out in Kirishi. The renovated building could be the envy of the capital’s cultural centers: a concert hall with a capacity of more than 600 seats, a multimedia screen, an atrium in which the “Winter Garden” is located and a swimming pool with live ornamental fish, unique for our region in its wealth and quality of exhibits, the Museum of Nature and Fauna of the Leningrad Region, as well as numerous spaces for creative activities. Mikhail Shvydkoy, who visited Kirishi as the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation, called this event a “cultural revolution” that changed the consciousness of the townspeople.
It was at the opening of the transformed Palace that the General Director of KINEF LLC Vadim Somov and the Director of the State Russian Museum Vladimir Gusev signed an agreement to create a virtual branch of the St. Petersburg treasury of art in Kirishi. He was given a room equipped with computer equipment, which allowed him to use various programs and work formats. The Russian Museum provided the scientific and educational base and methodological developments of its leading specialists.
As a result, workers of the city-forming enterprise and all Kirishans had the opportunity to go on excursions to each of the four palaces of the museum, as well as to the funds and restoration halls, without leaving their city. The opening of the virtual branch on October 28, 2004 became a great holiday, which is forever inscribed in the history of Kirishi. At the ceremonial presentation, Vladimir Gusev noted that the use of modern means of communication makes it possible to widely disseminate knowledge on the history of Russian culture and art. According to him, the branch in Kirishi was created in order to serve as a source of such knowledge, especially for young people.
And so it happened: the most numerous visitors to the center were and remain schoolchildren, gymnasiums and lyceums. Directors of educational institutions, teachers, heads of kindergartens are among the most interested partners of the branch. And its employees are developing new topics for excursions and activities, taking into account the characteristics of children’s perception. Having become familiar with art, schoolchildren bring their parents to the branch for classes in the family club. According to teachers, the center offers their students a high-quality cultural program that they would not be able to prepare in school.
The ideas of the Kirishi branch were adopted by many cities in the country
Over the course of a year, the branch hosts up to 150 different events for all ages. Plant employees, members of their families and production veterans participate in excursions, including field trips, which are held directly in the workshops, at a recreation center or in a sanatorium. Virtual tours of the Russian Museum are organized for students, people with disabilities, pensioners, as well as residents and guests of the city. But it’s not limited to excursions. Creative meetings, master classes, festive events and exhibitions are regularly held to mark memorable dates of the plant, the Russian Museum and the city of Kirishi – the branch’s calendar is always full. At the same time, many events are organized jointly with the trade union committee of the enterprise.
The idea of creating such a project in Kirish belongs to the general director of LLC “KINEF” Vadim Evseevich Somov. The Kirishsky refinery has special and long-standing relations with the State Russian Museum.
– We are united by cooperation with the Russian Museum, which cannot be assessed one-sidedly. And, of course, this partnership is not accidental; there are many museums in the world, but there is only one Russian Museum. This is our culture, this is the honor of the nation,” notes Vadim Evseevich. – Twenty years ago, we opened a virtual branch of the Russian Museum in the factory’s Palace of Culture, so that our children, our employees, and all Kirishans would become spiritually richer, so that everyone would have the opportunity to see with their own eyes paintings from the treasury of Russian art in their hometown. The Palace of Culture is the center of theatrical, musical and creative life. The most talented, most famous artists perform here. No wonder our Palace of Culture is recognized as the best in the Leningrad region. It has unique technical equipment. And the stage is no worse than in the outstanding theaters of St. Petersburg. Our tradition is to host the arts festival “Christmas Meetings” during the New Year holidays – theaters with which we have long-standing friendly relations come: MDT, BDT, Komissarzhevskaya Theater, Musical Comedy and Philharmonic… All with premieres. In order to see these groups, Kirishans do not need to go to St. Petersburg.
Therefore, if there are theaters, then only the best ones, where there are classics, where the scenery is real. Music is only philharmonic. The museum is only Russian.
When people ask me: why do you pay so much attention to art? I usually answer this way: this is what we actually live for. Spiritual values are very important. A person cannot live by work alone. The personality must have room for development. And everything in life should be connected: production, education, sports, theater, music, art. One is inseparable from the other. The plant is trying to give people this opportunity. We – KINEF – invest in the social sphere of Kirishi, because this is our city, in which our people, our children live. And today there really are all the conditions here for raising children, working, living an interesting life…
Its many friends and partners gathered for the 20th anniversary of the information and educational center. The celebration was attended by the heads of KINEF LLC and the administration of the Kirishi district, representatives of the Russian Museum and the city local history museum, heads of schools and kindergartens, teachers and educators, creative intelligentsia and factory workers. Many guests thanked the head of the branch, Natalya Sukhovyeva, and the methodologist, Anna Lazutina, for their high professionalism and creative approach to business.
Maria Gladkikh re-presented Bryullov’s masterpiece. Photo: KINEF Archive
The head of the Virtual Russian Museum service, Maria Gladkikh, noted the educational mission of the center in Kirishi:
– The virtual branch is here precisely so that children and adults know why they are going to meet their favorite work, the author at the Russian Museum, why they want to see this or that palace, walk through its halls. Kirishi colleagues open the doors to the wonderful world of art. Every year they have new programs, topics, stories. We are confident that the virtual Russian Museum in the city of Kirishi will continue to hold high the banner of culture and education.
By the way, some of the ideas of the Kirishi branch were adopted in other cities and regions. For example, he was the first to develop special programs for older people.
Representatives of the Kirishi district administration emphasized that an active position, a constant search for ways of development, the relevance and significance of cultural and educational projects and creative innovations allowed the virtual branch of the Russian Museum to take its rightful place in the cultural environment of the city.
“Twenty years of operation of the branch have shown that all successes and achievements are not only our work, but also the enormous work of the entire team of the Palace of Culture, as well as support from the trade union committee and the administration of KINEF LLC,” noted the head of the center, Natalya Sukhoveva.
At the end of the anniversary evening, guests were treated to a surprise – the digital attraction “The Last Day of Pompeii”. The new experience of perceiving painting through the prism of technology made a strong impression on the participants in the creative experiment. Wearing augmented reality glasses, one could “enter” the space of a reproduction of a famous painting by Karl Bryullov and move through the streets of an ancient Roman city, seeing details that had not been paid attention to before. The masterpiece of painting itself, which has undergone a large-scale restoration, can now be seen at an exhibition of works by Karl Bryullov in the Russian Museum, which will last until May 2025.
Technologies continue to develop, and with them the virtual branch of the Russian Museum in Kirishi. It is possible that soon its visitors will have new opportunities that one can only dream of today. One thing is clear: a place where the greatest works of art become closer to every person will always be in demand. This means that there will be more than one generation of people in the city who know, love and appreciate this art.
Source: rg.ru
