Museums In Russia Begin Reopening With Limitations In Place

Museums in Russia Begin Reopening With Limitations in Place

Museum life in Russia looks set for a return in July after months of closure, beginning with Wednesday's opening of the State Historical Museum

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st July, 2020) Museum life in Russia looks set for a return in July after months of closure, beginning with Wednesday's opening of the State Historical Museum.

Culture Minister Olga Lyubimova and a group of reporters were the first to take a tour of the museum, given by director Alexei Levykin, to see the new sanitary measures in place.

"We are grateful to the management and all employees of the State Historical Museum for being one of the first largest Federal museums that prepared to open accepting visitors ... I want to note the coordinated work of the team to ensure sanitary safety and create the most comfortable conditions for our citizens, who are finally returning," Lyubimova said.

The culture minister also said she discussed with the museum's management ways of implementing the recommendations of the federal consumer watchdog Rospotrebnadzor.

"We discussed how exposition activities can develop in the future, based on the situation. How the first groups will look. Today these are the smallest groups - five people each, in order to maintain the very distance that we talked about so much. And now it's very important that the State Historical Museum was the first to open, and see how it works, how truly comfortable it will work for employees, managers," Lyubimova said.

Museum Director Levykin, for his part, confirmed that all the exhibitions that were underway when lockdowns were ordered will be extended.

The nearby Moscow Kremlin Museum, meanwhile, said in a statement that it will open its doors to the public on July 3. In a statement published on its website, the museum said it will allow for no more than 150 visitors at any one time and in groups of no more than five people. To see the Russian imperial crown, armaments and more, visitors are asked to be wearing masks and gloves indoors.

Over in St. Petersburg, the iconic Hermitage Museum will open its doors mid-July, the museum's director Mikhail Piotrovsky told reporters. Visitors to the residence of the Tsars and their art collections will be limited following Rospotrebnadzor's recommendations.