Hermitage museum branch in Amsterdam changes its name after breaking ties with Russia

In March 2022, after Russia began its full-scale war in Ukraine, the museum in the Netherlands announced they severed ties with the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. From September 1, the branch of the Russian Hermitage in Amsterdam will also change its name from Hermitage Amsterdam to H'ART Museum.

The museum's statement says the museum's new name comes into effect on September 1, 2023. Until then, all exhibitions and events will be held under the current name.

Museum director Annabelle Birnie announced a new international partnership with the British Museum in London, the Center Pompidou in Paris, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

H'Art will have separate contracts with each partner institution and borrow artworks from them to show the partners' complete shows, adapt them for their audiences, or create their own events using the partners' collections.

"We will be like a museum for museums. Three partners will bring much more than one," Birnie said.

The New York Times says that in March 2022, a week after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Hermitage Museum in Amsterdam severed relations with the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. Museum director Annabelle Birnie said the decision was a "moral one." However, it had severe practical consequences for the museum, founded as a kind of satellite of the Russian institution.

Amsterdam's Hermitage was "neglected, with no connection to St. Petersburg, with no identity or works to display." So the establishment had to rethink itself or simply close quickly. Birnie announced that the museum will now operate under a new name and with a new group of staff.

The first major exhibition of the H'ART Museum will be in partnership with the Pompidou Center, the works of Wassily Kandinsky, a painter, graphic designer, and art theorist. He lived and worked in Ukraine, Germany, France, and Russia. This exhibition will take place in mid-2024. The entire program for the next few years will be announced at the end of 2023.

As Rubryka reported, the Netherlands Supreme Court announced the final decision about the ownership of Ukraine's "Scythian gold" from Crimean museums, which was on display in Amsterdam when Russia occupied Crimea in 2014.

As Rubryka reported, proper documentation of damage and destruction of objects of Ukraine's cultural heritage and cultural infrastructure is essential to draw attention to the Russian Federation's crimes against Ukraine and bring it to international legal responsibility.

Recently, Kherson museum workers identified three more paintings that were stolen by the Russian invaders and taken to the temporarily occupied Crimea.