Gazprom congratulates St. Petersburg on 350th anniversary of birth of Peter I
RELEASE
Release
Ceremonial events celebrating the 350th anniversary of the birth of Peter I took place today in St. Petersburg.
Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, Olga Lyubimova, Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation, Alexander Gutsan, Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Northwestern Federal District of Russia, and Alexander Beglov, Governor of St. Petersburg, took part in the opening ceremony for the exhibition on the Field of Mars (Marsovo Pole) titled “30 Paintings from the Life of Peter the Great. 2022.” The project follows up on the concept of the exhibition that was organized in the same place by Alexander II back in 1872 to commemorate Peter the Great's 200th anniversary.
Olga Lyubimova, Alexey Miller, Alexander Gutsan, and Alexander Beglov attend opening ceremony for exhibition on Field of Mars
The ambitious exhibition-based history project bringing together the city's leading cultural institutions was initiated by Gazprom. Its scientific and historical concept was put forward by the Peterhof State Museum Reserve. Fourteen paintings from the 1872 exhibition survived in the collection of the State Russian Museum, and their digital copies were transferred onto canvas to be displayed on the Field of Mars. Another 16 artworks inspired by lost paintings were made by the alumni and teachers of the Ilya Repin St. Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts.
Opening ceremony for exhibition titled “30 Paintings from the Life of Peter the Great. 2022” on Field of Mars
A total of 30 paintings which are displayed in pavilions erected specially for the exhibition show the key events in the reign of Peter I: great military victories, crucial changes in Russia's way of life, and major innovations in science and education. The project combines historical research and modern technological solutions. The Field of Mars-based exhibition is open to the city's inhabitants and guests free of charge and round-the-clock through August 9.
“The paintings showcased here are essentially an invisible thread tying generations together and creating historical continuity in the fates and fortunes of our Fatherland. Needless to say, these artworks are also honoring the great name of Peter I, the great reformer. It is very fitting that the exhibition was revived in its historical place, the Field of Mars, in the very heart of the Russian Empire's capital, Peter's creation,” said Alexey Miller.
Also today, a monument titled “Peter the Great Saves the Drowning near Lakhta” was unveiled near the Lakhta Center.
Background
Gazprom actively takes part in the preparation and holding of ceremonial events celebrating the 350th anniversary of the birth of Peter I. The celebrations are taking place all around Russia.
In St. Petersburg, the Company is joining forces with Russian museums and other organizations to pursue a number of ambitious projects, for instance, the State Hermitage Museum's new permanent exhibition named “The Peter the Great Gallery” which showcases unique objects from the era of Peter I, including personal belongings of Russia's first emperor; the holding of the 15th International Peter the Great Congress titled “Not a Sorcerer, but a Genius... Peter the Great's Identity during his Era”; the “Imperial Hall” project at the Kunstkamera that will house the “Multinational Russia” ethnography exhibition; the restoration of the painting “Peter I at Krasnaya Gorka Lighting a Fire on the Shore to Signal to his Sinking Ships” by Ivan Aivazovsky from the collection of the State Russian Museum; and a cultural research program titled “From the City to the World. The Great Embassy: Designing the Future” which is implemented as part of Gazprom's social project Friends of St. Petersburg.