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The St. Petersburg International Center for Preservation officially
opened on June 28, 1995. The center—founded jointly by the Getty
Conservation Institute, the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the
city of St. Petersburg—will provide opportunities for collaborative
research and for information exchange about the latest findings
in conservation, as part of an effort to help preserve the cultural
heritage of St. Petersburg and its neighboring cities.
Tipper Gore, wife of U.S. Vice President Al Gore, was the honored
guest at the center's opening ceremony. Also present were Zhores
Alferov, Vice President of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Vladimir
Yakovlev, Deputy Mayor of St. Petersburg; Miguel Angel Corzo, Director
of the GCI; Esther Coopersmith, Chair of the St. Petersburg International
Center for Preservation; Vladimir Lapin, Director of the Russian
State Archives; and Jane Slate Siena, Head of Institutional Relations
for the GCI.
The center is incorporated in the United States and registered
in Russia as a nonprofit charitable organization. As a founding
partner of the center, the GCI is working with professionals in
Russia to develop critical pilot programs in preventive conservation
and is also leveraging its own contribution by attracting resources
from other foundations and corporations.
Conservation needs throughout Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent
States are diverse and require new approaches to collections and
building management. These include strategies that seek to prevent
further deterioration of objects and that stabilize and protect
entire collections and groups of historic buildings. Research and
training are also needed in environmental standards and monitoring,
exhibition installation, facilities development, collections management,
emergency preparedness, and the safe handling and storage of artworks,
archives, and library materials.
The center's programs began in March 1996 with Security Seminar
I, designed to address the urgent problems of safety and protection
of collections. Seminar leaders were Wilbur Faulk, Director of Security,
the J. Paul Getty Trust; J. Andrew Wilson, Assistant Director of
Fire Protection, the Smithsonian Institution; and Oleg Boev, Chief
of Security, the Hermitage State Museum. Programs are also under
way in environmental research, cultural heritage tourism, and preventive
conservation, in collaboration with Russian and foreign partners,
including the government of the Netherlands.
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