Come, see priceless art

Muscat, March 11 - His Highness Sayyid Haitham bin Tareq al Said, Minister of Heritage & Culture and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the National Museum, inaugurated Hermitage Day at the museum premises on Monday. The initiative is part of the Memorandum of Understanding between the National Museum of Oman and the State Hermitage Museum of Russia. Sayyid Hamoud bin Faisal al Busaidy Minister of Interior, and Dr Abdulmunim bin Mansour al Hasani, Minister of Information, were also present. The exhibition is featuring three Russian national treasures; a late 18th century sabre presented by Empress Catherine II to Count Alexey Orlov-Chesmensky, a snuffbox with a famous portrait of Catherine, and a Hispano-Moresque style ceramic vase featuring Arabic inscriptions alongside the Russian imperial emblem. The exhibition is open till May 10. The event also marked the signing of a bilateral ‘Training and Capacity-building Agreement’ by Jamal bin Hassan al Moosawi, Director-General of the National Museum and Professor Dr Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovski, Director-General of the State Hermitage Museum. Other event highlights were a lecture presented in Arabic by Professor Dr Piotrovskiy, entitled ‘Mystery of the Oriental Collections of the Hermitage Museum’, and two conservation workshops conducted by Russian expert Maksim Lapshi. The National Museum, established by royal decree in 2013 and opened July 30, 2016, is the Sultanate’s flagship cultural institution, showcasing the nation’s cultural heritage from the earliest evidence of human settlement in the Oman Peninsula through to the present day. As a national institution with global outreach, the museum is dedicated to ensuring Oman’s cultural heritage is appreciated not only within the Sultanate, but also internationally. Further, it aims to provide opportunities for cultural expression, innovation, and the transfer of traditional skills and knowledge from one generation to the next. The State Hermitage is a renowned museum of art and culture in St. Petersburg, Russia. Founded in 1764 CE, it is one of the oldest museums in the world. It is also among the world’s largest museums, with more than 3 million works of art and artefacts in its collection.