On September 9, the Russian government extended the contract of Mikhail Piotrovsky as director general of the Hermitage. Now 80, he has led the museum for 33 years, and his entire life has been tied to the institution: his father, academician Boris Piotrovsky, headed the Hermitage from 1964 to 1990.
Piotrovsky entered the museum’s leadership after his father’s death, first as deputy director for research and then, in 1992 at age 47, as director. In the first half of the 1990s, he was seen as a face of Russia’s new cultural policy: an educated orientalist, at ease with foreign colleagues and committed to openness.
One defining step was his stance on the restitution of artworks taken from Germany after World War II. In 1995, the Hermitage opened the exhibition Hidden Masterpieces, allowing Western specialists access to these works. According to art historian Kira Dolinina, this was the moment Piotrovsky cemented his reputation as a supporter of museum transparency.
Under him, the Hermitage modernized significantly: exhibition activity expanded, the museum became more visitor-friendly, and contemporary art gained a more prominent place. In 2009, the Hermitage 20/21 project was launched, and in 2014 the museum hosted the European biennale Manifesta. New spaces were also developed, including the General Staff Building and the storage complex in Staraya Derevnya.
At the same time, disputes surrounded the museum’s financial and construction activity. The most high-profile episode came in 2013, when the Accounts Chamber reported inflated restoration costs with alleged losses exceeding 6 billion rubles. Several people linked to the case were arrested and convicted, including Culture Ministry official Boris Mazo.
A sharp shift in perceptions of Piotrovsky came after his public statements in 2022 supporting the war against Ukraine. According to figures in the cultural sphere, those remarks led to his international isolation and the departure of several Hermitage employees, including contemporary art department head Dmitry Ozorkov.
In another major interview published in August shortly before his reappointment, Piotrovsky said the Hermitage was introducing priority benefits for participants in the “special military operation,” staging fashion shows of adapted clothing for people connected to the war, and incorporating a “patriotic triad” — “Orthodoxy, autocracy, and nationality.” The article presents this evolution as a move from a symbol of museum openness to a figure whose later rhetoric triggered a profound crisis of trust.