The seminar “Organisation of the educational activities in the centres “the Russian Museum: the virtual branch”

The seminar was initiated by the Finnish National Board of Education that is undertaking the “Finland – Russia” program. The main goal of the program is the widening of cooperation between research fellows of the educational institutions of Finland and Russia, exchange of knowledge and experience, encouragement of international educational plans, business life and development of cultural contacts. The “Finland – Russia” program reflects the interest of the Finnish people in Russian culture and art as well as in the Russian language. In the system of school education there are such subjects as Russian and Russian culture.

At the opening of the seminar the Director of the Russian Museum Mr Vladimir Gusev gave his welcoming speech. The Director remarked that interest in the project “The Russian Museum: the virtual branch” in Finland is growing steadily. At present 6 information and educational centres are working in Finland and the opening of the next virtual branch is planned to take place in October 2010 in the Finnish town, Kankaanpaa. The Director emphasised that one of the main goals of the project “The Russian Museum: the virtual branch” is the translation of programs from the Mediateka into Finnish. The deputy director Natalia Kuleshova wished the guests from Finland fruitful work at the seminar.

The program of the seminar combined visiting the real expositions and exhibitions of the Russian Museum together with sessions offering virtual exploration of the collection and the architectural complex of the museum by using the programs from the Mediateka of the project. The participants went on the tours “Masterpieces of the Russian Museum” and “the Ludwig Museum in the Russian museum”. These tours were guided by the curators of the Lectures and Excursions department Svetlana Gorunova and Filipp Kostriz. The participants also went on the tours, “The avantgarde art collection in the Russian Museum and Petr Konchalovsky exhibition” and “St Michael’s castle - the residence of the Emperor Paul I”. These tours were given by Maria Rudenskaya from the department of information and educational intermuseum projects. The classes conducted by Olga Babina, Anna Ivanenko and Maria Rudenskaya, curators of the department of information and educational intermuseum projects, were devoted to the educational possibilities of the multimedia programs of the project, as well as to reviewing new programs and electronic resources placed on the web-site www.virtualrm.spb.ru, and to the forms of activities of the virtual branches.

A separate session of the seminar was held in the Gymnasium at the Russian Museum. The deputy director Elena Kustova told the participants of the seminar about the structure of the information and educational centre. The guests from Finland took part in the open lesson from the “Historic event and personality in the Russian fine art” course. The lesson was given by Maria Mihelson.
At the round-table discussions the prospects of cooperation between Russia and Finland in the framework of the project “The Russian Museum: the virtual branch” were considered. Two main directions of cooperation were determined. One is connected with the development of cultural exchange between St. Petersburg and Lappeenranta. In February 2010 the virtual branch of the Russian Museum was opened in Joutseno school. The multimedia programs of the virtual branch are suggested to be used in a course about history and culture of St. Petersburg for senior pupils. This course is planned to be included in the school curriculum for the next year. The logical conclusion of the studies can be an exchange trip to St. Petersburg during which the schoolchildren could learn about the city and visit the Russian Museum. In their turn Russian schoolchildren could make a trip to Lappeenranta and learn more about Russian-Finnish cultural contacts. The other direction of cooperation is connected with searching for possibilities to finance the translation and remastering of selected programs from the Mediateka into Finnish. Moreover the participants of the seminar showed an interest in creation of new resources reflecting the cultural contacts between two countries. They also suggested that during the next seminar more attention would be paid to practical mastering of a new program from the Mediateka of the project “The Russian museum: the virtual branch”.