Mikhail Piotrovsky

{{Infobox person

|name= Mikhail Piotrovsky

|image= File:MikhailPiotrovsky (cropped).jpg

|caption = Piotrovsky in 2019

|birth_date= {{birth date and age|df=yes|1944|12|9}}

|birth_place= Yerevan, Armenian SSR, Soviet Union

|occupation= Museum director, Orientalist

|alma_mater = Leningrad State University

}}

Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovsky ({{langx|ru|Михаил Борисович Пиотровский}}; 9 December 1944) is a Russian historian. He is the director of the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Life and career

He was born in Yerevan in the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic on 9 December 1944 to Boris Piotrovsky, an Orientalist and himself the future director of the Hermitage Museum, and Armenian mother Hripsime Djanpoladjian, archaeologist and epigrapher.{{Cite web |title=Скончалась Рипсимэ Джанполадян-Пиотровская |url=http://www.museum.ru/n19214 |access-date=2024-05-26 |website=www.museum.ru}}{{Cite web |title=Директор Эрмитажа Михаил Пиотровский. Биография - ТАСС |url=https://tass.ru/info/1631468 |access-date=2024-05-26 |website=TACC |language=ru}}

At the Leningrad University, Mikhail Piotrovsky obtained a doctorate in Arabic linguistics. After graduating in 1967, he worked as an interpreter in Yemen and took part in archaeological exploration of the Caucasus. After his father's death in 1990, Piotrovsky was appointed Director of the Hermitage in his stead.{{cite web |url=http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage/about/hermitage_director/?lng=en |publisher=The State Hermitage Museum|title=Museum Director: Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovsky |year=2011|access-date=26 July 2012}}

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Piotrovsky advocated the opening of the Hermitage collections to the wider world, which resulted in the establishment of the Hermitage Rooms in Somerset House, Hermitage Amsterdam and the Guggenheim Hermitage Museum.{{Cite web |title=Указ Президента Российской Федерации от 05.12.2014 № 756 ∙ Официальное опубликование правовых актов |url=http://publication.pravo.gov.ru/Document/View/0001201412050032?index=13&rangeSize=1 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20241213090659/http://publication.pravo.gov.ru/Document/View/0001201412050032?index=13&rangeSize=1 |archive-date=2024-12-13 |access-date=2025-03-06 |website=publication.pravo.gov.ru |language=ru}} His tenure was not entirely free of scandals, however. After the museum announced in July 2006 that 221 minor items, including jewelry, Orthodox icons, silverware and richly enameled objects, had been stolen by one of the museum officials, there were calls for Piotrovsky's resignation.[http://manuscripta-orientalia.kunstkamera.ru/ Manuscripta Orientalia. International Journal for Oriental Manuscript Research]

After 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Piotrovsky spoke of the importance of cultural bridges and made sure major loans avoided seizure and were returned to Russia. He spoke out against the cancellation of Russian culture but avoided direct references to the war, even as museum partners and international supporters suspended ties. Four months later, Piotrovsky has opened up about the war. He describes Russian culture as an important export, similar to the country's war in Ukraine. "Our recent exhibitions abroad are just a powerful cultural offensive. If you want, a kind of 'special operation', which a lot of people don't like. But we are coming. And no one can be allowed to interfere with our offensive".{{Cite web |date=2022-06-24 |title=‘No one can interfere with our offensive’: Hermitage director Mikhail Piotrovsky compares Russian export of culture to country’s ‘operation’ in Ukraine |url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2022/06/24/no-one-can-interfere-with-our-offensive-hermitage-director-mikhail-piotrovsky-compares-russian-export-of-culture-to-countrys-operation-in-ukraine |access-date=2025-03-06 |website=The Art Newspaper - International art news and events |language=en}} Piotrovsky was sanctioned by Canada over his support for the war in Ukraine.{{cite web |title=Canada Has Sanctioned the Director of Russia's Hermitage Museum Over His Support for the War in Ukraine |url=https://news.artnet.com/art-world-archives/canada-sanctions-director-hermitage-museum-2357986 |date=5 September 2023}}

Awards and honors

Piotrovsky has been invested with numerous orders and medals, both Russian and foreign, including the Order of the Rising Sun (Japan) and the Order of Honor (Russia). He has also had a minor planet named after him. Piotrovsky has been Chair of the Board of the First Channel of the Russian television since 2001.

On 1 October 2009, Piotrovsky received the Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service from the Kennan Institute.{{cite news|url=http://www.hermitagemuseumfoundation.org/files/8613/5767/3050/Newsletter-January-2010.pdf|title=Hermitage Museum Foundation Newsletter|work=Hermitage Museum Foundation website|date=January 2010|access-date=16 December 2020|archive-date=17 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201217024338/http://www.hermitagemuseumfoundation.org/files/8613/5767/3050/Newsletter-January-2010.pdf}}Dworkin, Scott (5 February 2017). [http://mobile.twitter.com/i/web/status/828308379667947523 Trump Hosted Event for Putin Sr Advisor at Mar a Lago in 2010]. Dworkin website. [https://twitter.com/funder/status/828308379667947523 Archived] from the original 26 November 2020. [https://archive.today/20201126134659/https://twitter.com/funder/status/828308379667947523 Archived] from the original 17 December 2020.{{cite news|last=Gutierrez|first=Rual|url=https://medium.com/@themexican/trumps-russian-connections-a-handy-timeline-d5a820ee1ac5|title=Trump's Russian Connections, A Handy Timeline|work=The Medium|access-date=16 December 2020|archive-date=1 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170301224955/https://medium.com/@themexican/trumps-russian-connections-a-handy-timeline-d5a820ee1ac5}}