‘It seems that Soviet behavior passed to the West’: Piotrovsky talks about Russia and Middle East

RUSSIA AFFAIRS - In a rare interview with Western media since the start of the current war in Ukraine, Mikhail Piotrovsky speaks to The Jerusalem Post.

By ELDAD BECK DECEMBER 27, 2024 15:04

THE HERMITAGE MUSEUM, founded 260 years ago by Russian Empress Catherine the Great, contains one of the most impressive collections of art and historical artifacts in the world. (photo credit: Oleg Nikishin/Getty Images for Lavazza)

ST. PETERSBURG – The name Piotrovsky has become part of the history of the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, the second-largest museum in the world, founded 260 years ago by Catherine the Great.

Mikhail Piotrovsky – a renowned Russian historian, orientalist, and archeologist – has been the director of this museum for the last 32 years. He has sort of inherited this highly important cultural position from his father, Boris, himself a famous orientalist and archeologist, who was the director of the Hermitage from 1964 till his death in 1990.

Altogether, Boris and Mikhail directed the Hermitage for almost 70 years, witnessing many political and cultural changes and evolutions in Russia and worldwide.

Piotrovsky just celebrated his 80th birthday in an official event at the resplendent Great Throne Hall of the Imperial Winter Palace, connected to the Hermitage.

President Vladimir Putin, with whom Piotrovsky is said to be very close, sent a congratulations message in honor of the occasion.

RENOWNED RUSSIAN historian, orientalist, and archeologist Mikhail Piotrovsky has been the director of the Hermitage Museum for 32 years. (credit: ELDAD BECK)

“You have devoted your talents as a scholar, researcher, and organizer to the noble mission of preserving humanity’s unique historical, cultural, and spiritual heritage. Your many years of fruitful work as head of the State Hermitage Museum made an immense contribution to the advancement of museology in our country, serving as an inspiring example of selfless dedication to people and fatherland.”

Born in Yerevan, Armenia – then part of the Soviet Union – Piotrovsky practically grew up in the Hermitage after his father was nominated as director of the museum. He studied Arabic at the Oriental Faculty of Leningrad University and later in Cairo and participated in archaeological excavations in Yemen.

He wrote some 300 scholarly works, including catalogs of Arabic manuscripts, works on the religious and political history of Islam and the Arab world, and the archaeology of Arabia.

As director of the Hermitage, Piotrovsky leads the Russian museums community and was responsible for the development of post-Soviet and post-perestroika (period of economic restructuring in the 1980s) Russian museology. Under his direction, the Hermitage opened itself to the world, strengthened ties with Western museums, expanded its exhibition space, and established exhibition centers in other countries and friends associations abroad, including in Israel, an association headed by Israeli businessman Amir Gross-Kabiri.

All this came to a halt in February 2022 with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Western museums cut off ties with the Hermitage, Piotrovsky was personally sanctioned by some countries, and Western friends’ associations froze their activities. Only the Israeli association decided not to turn its back on the Hermitage.

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Rare interview 

In a rare interview with Western media since the start of the current war in Ukraine, Piotrovsky speaks to The Jerusalem Post about the importance of the Hermitage, the role of culture versus politics, national pride in times of war, relations between Russia and Israel, and on how Russia could play a positive role in the Middle East.

Q: The Hermitage Museum is celebrating its 260th anniversary this year. How did it become one of the leading museums in the world?

A: I think it’s because the State Hermitage Museum has a very exciting biography. It was founded by Empress Catherine the Great in what, at the time, was the middle of nowhere. Catherine bought the best collections of Europe, bringing them to Russia, to Saint Petersburg. At the time, St. Petersburg was considered a very distant place, like Antarctica to us today.

Bringing those collections to St. Petersburg was considered by many as a big scandal: How are these terrible Russians buying the best collections and taking them so far away? After Catherine, it became a tradition for every tsar to add something to the collections. Thus, the palace became a museum, and museums were built as additions to it.

Then we had the Russian Revolution, which also happened in these buildings. Later came the German siege of Leningrad in WWII.

This museum is full of history, and at the same time, it presents a great collection of art that highlights many different cultures in dialogue with each other. This is why it’s so important to Russia and the world.

I call the museum an “encyclopedia of world culture.” It’s a museum for everybody with a very clear Russian flavor. [But] it’s not just a museum. It’s a great achievement of Russian culture – a place of history, art, scholarship, and people. It’s an ecosystem of its own. This combination makes it interesting.

From its beginning, it has been a great world museum. Thirty years ago, Russia became more open to the world, and so did the museum. We entered this open world, a jungle full of risks and problems. Still, we managed to show again how great this museum is. It was also recognized as one of the best museums in the world.

We became very active and created museum fashion for the world. I was called “the world’s best museum director” several times, an honor that is not mine but goes to the museum. If I may cite Donald Trump, we have made the Hermitage great again.

Q: You mentioned two major historical moments in Russia and the history of the Hermitage: the Russian Revolution and the siege of Leningrad. How did the Hermitage and its collections survive this destruction madness?

A: It didn’t fully survive the revolution because, after the revolution, the government that moved to Moscow began to sell collections of the Hermitage, including many important objects.

At the beginning of the revolution, Saint Petersburg was quite peaceful. There were several stormings of the Winter Palace, and the revolutionaries managed to enter it but stayed without causing much damage. The Bolsheviks understood the importance of the museum’s collections, so they managed to protect them from the crowds robbing the Winter Palace. They didn’t enter the Hermitage.

During WWI, some of the Hermitage collections were evacuated to Moscow. After the revolution, we got them back. For us, it was significant that the government decided to move to Moscow. Otherwise, they would have occupied all the buildings of the palace and the Hermitage, and we would have had no space left for the museum.

We had a wonderful exhibition about the revolution on its 100th anniversary, which was about the revolution seen from the Winter Palace. So, we have our own special view and understanding of the revolution.

At the beginning of the revolution, the staff of the Hermitage boycotted Soviet rule for one or two years. However, they were not executed.

During the 30s, many of the staff were sent to gulags, but not as many as from other art institutions. There have been a lot of other problems, but the museum staff managed to keep their way and hold the tradition of scholarship, even when it was complicated to organize exhibitions.

Q: And then came WWII.

A: That’s the story of the siege of Leningrad. Some of the collections were sent during the war to the Urals. Other collections were left here, and staff members of the Hermitage stayed to protect them and the buildings from bombings. They spent the nights in the rooms of the Hermitage waiting for the bombs, and during the days, they read lectures on art history to each other.

Every year, we do an exhibition about how we lived during the siege. Now, we have organized a virtual reality show of the bomb shelter of the Hermitage, where people lived and even died of hunger. We have studied the story of the evacuation of the Hermitage.

Nowadays, we don’t only remember those historical times. We learn from the past what museums should be doing during military conflicts. You save the collections and take them to a safe place, then return them to the same place and record what is happening. Documentation is an obligation of a museum.

Threats to the Hermitage

Q: Do you think the Hermitage is threatened in any way nowadays?

A: Everybody is threatened. The Hermitage is always threatened by floods and terrorists. We have to be prepared for everything that might happen. At the same time, we learned how to approach the idea of patriotism, the idea of standing with our country in all possible situations. This is part of the tradition of the Hermitage.

Q: Art and culture are generally seen in the West as opposing patriotism.

A: Patriotism is probably the wrong term. In Russian, we speak about historical self-consciousness. Pride in your country. Love to your country. This is what the Hermitage developed over the years. In every country, in normal times, people think everything is bad. But in times of conflict, when your country needs you, you must decide: Are you with your country or against it? You have to make a choice. I think you know this situation very well in Israel.

The Hermitage is also a museum of Russian history. We show our galleries, and it makes you proud of your nation. One has to decide where one stands. It’s a very important issue.

It’s dividing people in Russia too. I am constantly attacked for my position on this issue. But I insist that people decide if they want to work with us. The Hermitage is a world museum, but at the same time, it’s a very Russian museum.

Involvement in museum's history

Q: Your family has been very involved in the museum’s history in the last decades. Your father was its director, and you took his place. How did your family become so engaged in the history of the Hermitage?

A: My family has always been very involved in the history of Russia. My grandfather was in the military. His father was a general. When my father decided to become a historian and archaeologist, he was told he would never make a living with these professions. But then he came to the Hermitage and became a famous archaeologist.

He made sensational excavations in the South Caucasus and Armenia. He became known for his work and then served as the director of the Hermitage for 26 years.

I came to the Hermitage as a child. I was also very interested in history and archaeology. I decided to do something more complicated than my father and study Arabic, which was considered very difficult. I worked at the Academy of Science and was then invited to the Hermitage, where I was later asked to take my father’s place.

When my father died, it was the period of perestroika, and like nowadays, everybody had to choose. It wasn’t clear then how such a big museum should function. There were many attacks on the museum from different directions. So it was good to have someone who knew the museum from childhood. I knew the museum inside and out.

I think it was a good decision because we overcame all the crises and made the Heritage great again. Nowadays, we have to work in the age of the sovereignty of cultures. Every culture wants to stress and explain how special it is. At the same time, we are part of the world’s culture.

Q: The Hermitage is suffering from the effects of Western sanctions on Russia. How does the new “Cultural Cold War” affect The Hermitage?

A: We have to deal with this. You know, we lived quite successfully during the first Cold War. We have experienced living alone and having friends in different countries and places. So, we know how to behave.

As for sanctions, let me tell you a story: The British journalist Geraldine Norman and I wrote a book called Culture as Scandal: The Hermitage Story, which describes all scandals – real and fake – in the museum’s history. It was set to be published in English in March 2022.

After February 2022, the publisher canceled its publication. So, we published the book in Russian and published it this year in English. We have to find interesting ways to do what we want to do. It’s a pity we can’t work with many European museums because they are forbidden from cooperating with us. We can’t have exhibitions from Europe, and they can’t have ours.

Because of the sanctions, we work with other countries. What is called the “Orient” is actually most of the world. Us, you [Israel], China, the Arabian Peninsula, Korea – this is the world. I have a feeling things are changing.

Museums are a good barometer for change. When things begin to change, it is always felt in culture. But things will not go back to the way they were before. They will change to something new, a new way of cooperation between cultures and countries.

Q: How do you see this new way of cooperation?

A: I don’t know. Together, we have to find this way by trying new things. A few weeks ago, we discussed the restoration work the Hermitage planned in Palmyra, Syria. Now Palmyra is once again closed. Things are developing, but we must be optimistic and think of other new ways.

Our relations with the Israeli Friends of the Hermitage are an example. They were rather courageous in deciding they were not cutting ties with the Hermitage. February 2022 happened, and immediately after, cultural institutions in the West – people who were always saying that culture comes before politics – demanded we denounce our country, or they will cut relations with us.

Our Israeli friends said they wouldn’t cut ties with us. Ilya Kabakov (the Russian-Jewish painter who lived in the US and passed away in May 2023) said loudly that one must not cut relations with cultural institutions in Russia.

Q: Do you think that the immediate reactions in the West to the events of 2022 were connected to a new wave of Russophobia?

A: Russophobia does exist. It is not on the same scale as antisemitism, but it might sometimes develop in the same direction. People need an enemy. If it’s not a Jew, it’s an Armenian. I know it since I am half-Armenian. If it’s not a Jew or an Armenian, it will be a Russian.

This behavior we see today in the West toward Russia is a Soviet Union-style of behavior. In the days of the Cold War, if something happened in the West, the Soviet Union denounced all the Western institutions and cut relations with the West. Somehow, this disease of totalitarianism went to the West while we got free of it. We have to study this phenomenon to overcome the hate.

Russia and Israel

Q: How would you define the relationship between Russia and Israel, historically and nowadays?

A: The future of these relations depends on us because they are very complicated. Imperial Russia was one of the countries that pushed Jews to Israel. Later, the Soviet Union helped establish the State of Israel; it was one of the first countries to recognize Israel.

Then, it became unfriendly to Israel, and we had a period without diplomatic relations. At the same time, we had people from Russia going to Israel. We have a fantastic Russian diaspora in Israel, which plays an important role in the relations between the two countries.

We need a proper position for Russia in the Middle East to have peace. It might sound arrogant, but I think Russian presence in the Middle East is very important for peace in general. I don’t know how we can get there, especially with the situation now in Syria.

Interest in Arabic

Q: What made you so interested in Arabic?

A: I chose a domain unknown to my father. Arabic was considered a very difficult language in the milieu of Russian orientalists around my father. Someone who knew Arabic was highly regarded.

At the time – the 60s – there was also a period of rapprochement with the Arab world. I went to study in Cairo, and I worked in the Arabian peninsula, specifically in Yemen. You dig there for five minutes, and you find an archaeological sensation. It’s always great to learn about another civilization and tradition. Islam is also very different from the traditions of my family.

I would still choose to study Arabic today. My whole biography is built on it, and the Middle East is an important part of Russian foreign relations in many ways. I am also the chairman of the Saint Petersburg department of the Russian Imperial Palestine Society, which is connected to the Christian presence in the Holy Land.

It’s interesting when you can live in two civilizations, which is what orientalists do. This is an excellent experience for a museum director. You have the feeling that each culture has its own value. This is something I brought from my orientalist upbringing.

Q: As a Russian who traveled the Middle East, how do you see the current situation in that part of the world, especially after what happened in Syria?

A: I don’t speak much about politics. But, in general, the situation is as complicated as ever. The same things have been going on for thousands of years. We always have to find solutions.

There was the idea that a solution was found in Oslo, but not everybody was in favor of the situation being solved. Somehow, we have to help people understand each other. It’s not easy. We have to do it in the cultural field.

Now, we have modern technologies. Arabs can see exhibitions in Israel, and Israelis can see Arab exhibitions. Culture is not the unique recipe for a solution, but it can help.

Q: Could the Louvre Museum in Abu Dhabi, which presented Jewish objects in a museum in the Arab Peninsula for the first time, be an example of the peaceful contribution you are talking about?

A: Absolutely, and the Louvre Museum of Abu Dhabi is a perfect example of a museum serving cultural dialogue. It’s insisting on this dialogue, and they are doing it wonderfully.

Q: You said that Russia could be helpful in bringing peace to the Middle East. How could this contribution be possible?

A: I am not a politician. I certainly can’t do anything without asking the foreign minister. I have the feeling, from my experience, that when we are there – when we have strong Russian cultural institutions, exhibitions, and expeditions, when we meet with the people – it helps everybody feel stable instead of hysteria.

I think of the Russian presence in the Middle East as a big ship. Sometimes, military vessels in the Mediterranean mean war. But I believe that having metaphorically different ships from different countries can help.

Russia’s presence in the Arab world and Russia’s rebuilding relations with Israel were creating a feeling that things were becoming better. I think Russia is important.