St.Petersburg, 22.09.2018: in the General Staff Building of the State Hermitage Museum, the fourth international festival «Discover Your Europe at the Hermitage» took place. This yearly event is carried out as a joint initiative of the State Hermitage Museum and the Delegation of the European Union to Russia, in cooperation with the consulates and cultural institutes of EU member states. The festival was organised to coincide with the European Day of Languages, which is celebrated on the 26th of September. The European Union declared 2018 the year of European Cultural Heritage, and as a result this was the main theme of the festival.
The main, most exciting part of the programme was the culture fair. On one Saturday, 18 countries invited guests to take part in a variety of creative activities — thirteen master classes, eleven lectures, seven screenings, general knowledge quizzes, and musical performances.
The interactive zone, «Hermitage: Preserving the Heritage of a Nation», prepared by the volunteer sector of the State Hermitage, emphasised the importance of cultural traditions, and uncovered some «European secrets» – from elements of medieval dance, to culinary art. Lectures, classes, poetry duels, and the traditional hermitage computer graphics and animation competition, also centred around the theme of preserving national cultural heritage.
The festival was closed by a large musical concert, the main part of which was a performance of symphonic music from the St Petersburg youth symphony orchestra, «CreatoProject» which was presented by the The European Union National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC).
Please see photos here.
The festival was held under the auspices of the VII St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum.
