TEHRAN - On Saturday, the National Museum of Iran General Director Jabrael Nokandeh and his Russian counterpart Mikhail Piotrovsky, who presides over the Hermitage Museum, had a meeting in St. Petersburg, exploring ways expand cultural cooperation.

The issues of assistance were discussed in the framework of the memorandum of understanding concluded in 2019, a curator from the National Museum told the Tehran Times on Monday.

Holding an exhibition of selected works of the Hermitage Museum in Tehran, similar to the successful exhibition of the Louvre Museum in Tehran, was the first proposal of Jabrael Nokandeh for the Russian side.

The director general of the National Museum of Iran pointed out the cultural potential of the common heritage of the Caspian Sea area and considered it an important axis for carrying out joint cultural projects between the two museums and in this regard called for the formation of a joint working group consisting of experts in this area for research on the cultural heritage of the Caspian Sea environs.

Holding a joint exhibition focusing on the cultural area of the Caspian Sea was highly welcomed by Mikhail Piotrovsky, and he also emphasized the formation of a joint working group for the implementation of this important cultural plan.

The director general of the Hermitage Museum further proposed to hold mutual exhibitions titled "Hermitage Day" in Tehran and "Iran National Museum Day" in St. Petersburg to further strengthen the relations between the two nations of Iran and Russia with the ancient history of the two countries.

Holding an exhibition with specialized topics, exchanging experts, benefiting from museum experiences, training, and other inter-museum cooperation were among the other issues discussed in this meeting.

In the meeting, Mustafa Dehpahlvan, the head of the Research Institute of Cultural Heritage and Tourism, and Zatollah Nikzad, the research assistant of the research institute, were present, along with the deputies and heads of the scientific and research departments of the Hermitage Museum.

With more than three million cultural materials, the Hermitage Museum is one of the largest and most prestigious museums in the world, and this huge collection is considered one of the oldest art galleries and museums of history and human culture in the world.

It should be noted that the Hermitage Museum celebrates its founding anniversary (December 7, 1764) on December 7th from 2017 onwards with the title "Hermitage Day" and visits the museum for free and various programs and events to introduce itself to the audience.

Chock-full of priceless objects showcasing the juicy history of the nation, the National Museum of Iran, which is located in downtown Tehran, showcases ceramics, pottery, stone figures, and carvings, mostly taken from excavations at Persepolis, Ismail Abad (near Qazvin), Shush, Rey, and Turang Tappeh to name a few. Inside, among the finds from Shush, there’s a stone capital of a winged lion, some delightful pitchers and vessels in animal shapes, and colorful glazed bricks decorated with double-winged mythical creatures.

AFM