Digital Kunstkamera of 18th Century project presented at Gazprom’s SPIEF 2023 stand

An Agreement of Cooperation was signed today between Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Andrey Golovnyov, Director of the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (the Kunstkamera) of the RAS, at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2023 (SPIEF 2023).

The document reflects the intent of the parties to continue their cooperation in preserving the cultural heritage of St. Petersburg; developing the Kunstkamera, Russia's first museum; and implementing Gazprom's comprehensive social project Friends of St. Petersburg.

With support from Gazprom, the new permanent exhibition named “Imperial Hall: Multinational Russia” was opened at the museum in 2022. The exhibition is devoted to the peoples who lived in the Russian Empire in the 18th century. Gazprom's presentation stand at SPIEF 2023 was designed to follow the style of the project, with its vivid display of the traditional costumes of the peoples of Russia.

Alexey Miller and Andrey Golovnyov took part in the presentation of a new multimedia project titled “Digital Kunstkamera of the 18th Century.” The project was implemented with support from Gazprom.

The specialists from the museum had carried out a special scientific study that involved historical, architectural and museological research: numerous archival sources of the 18th century had been examined, including engravings depicting interiors and more than 2,000 water-color drawings of the items from the collection of the Kunstkamera.

The efforts resulted in a unique virtual tour which is available on the website of the museum. The tour offers its visitors a panoramic view of Kunstkamera's original facade and takes them through the original halls of the museum and the academic library.

The Digital Kunstkamera project is expected to be not only a virtual tour, but also a laboratory for studying the history of Russia's science and museum affairs. In the future, it is planned to enrich the tour with more themes, displayed scenes and design solutions.

“Gazprom continues its cooperation with the Kunstkamera, which is one of the world-class museums and a symbol of St. Petersburg. Since the era of Peter I, our country has been embracing and delivering innovations and striving for new engineering solutions. And it is very encouraging that the Kunstkamera keeps up with the times.

Today, we present the Digital Kunstkamera of the 18th Century project. Anyone can now see for themselves how the Kunstkamera looked like in the era of Peter I and explore these great pages in the history of Russia and St. Petersburg,” said Alexey Miller.

“Gazprom inspires us to use extremely advanced technologies. In essence, the Digital Kunstkamera is a laboratory which can be compared to a bathyscaphe that dives to a depth of 310 meters (because the Kunstkamera will celebrate its 310th birthday next year), and from this observation place we can explore the history of the science, museum affairs and self-discovery of our Fatherland.

There is a single idea that unites the exhibition on display at this stand and the virtual exhibition. Russia's concept of multinationality emerged in the 18th century. The concept was generated by the scientists of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Kunstkamera; it could also be seen from the Kunstkamera. That is why the Digital Kunstkamera offers a special look at the history of scientific and social thinking that is so important for Russia's national consciousness and self-discovery, and gives everyone a possibility of seeing this history from a research and educational point of view,” said Andrey Golovnyov.