Multimedia programs in State Hermitage Museum.

Since 1998 the Hermitage School Centre has been worked hard to develop compact-discs and multimedia product for the local use (within the Hermitage Museum).

The successful collaboration of the Hermitage Museum with the world known IBM Corporation enabled the Museum to create its own Education Centre.

The Hermitage Education Centre opened on 1 July 1998. The public was originally presented with two educational programs, Ancient Subjects in Western European Art of the 16th to 20th Century and Gospel Subjects in Western European Painting from the Collection of the State Hermitage, English and Russian versions. Both programs were developed jointly with IBM specialists, as part of the project Hermitage-IBM. In 1999 the third program Gallery of the History of Ancient Painting came into being.

Now specialists of the Education Centre are developing the fourth program Raphael Loggias. It is devoted to one of the most splendid interiors of the Hermitage. Today a non-interactive version of the program is available for the public.

In 2000 another multimedia program based on modern computer technologies was created jointly with the Russian Multimedia Centre – Biblical Subjects in Works of Art from the Collection of the State Hermitage. The development of Christian iconography is illustrated by over 100 works of art associated with themes from the Old and New Testaments and the Apocrypha, arranged in chronological order from the Creation to the Apocalypse. They also reveal the role of the world's most widely read book, the Bible, in art over the last 2000 years.

The users of Russian compact-discs can notice that the role of design in some of programs is not of great importance. We believe that design for museum multimedia product should be of high quality, for example, even the background should be in keeping with the theme.

Some specialists affirm that multimedia is dying and soon it will be replaced completely by the Internet with its vast possibilities. The Hermitage specialists can not share this point of view. Multimedia product including programs on the Internet occupy an important place in the history of culture.

Olga Atamanova, a researcher of the Hermitage School Centre. 1985 – graduated from the Leningrad Institute of Economics and Finance. From 1997 to the present – a member of the Hermitage staff. Participated in the development of the project Hermitage-IBM and the following multimedia programs: Ancient Subjects, Gospel Subjects, Hermitage during the Blockade, Gallery of the History of Ancient Painting, Biblical Subjects and Raphael Loggias in the Hermitage.

Julia Vasilyeva, a designer. 1999 – graduated from the St Petersburg Art and Industry Academy. From 1999 to the present – a member of the Hermitage staff. Participated in the development of the following multimedia programs: Gallery of the History of Ancient Painting, Biblical Subjects, and Raphael Loggias in the Hermitage.

Paul Pokrovsky, a junior researcher of the Hermitage School Centre. 1998 – graduated from the St Petersburg State Technical University. From 1998 to the present – a member of the Hermitage staff. As a programmer participated in the development of the following multimedia programs:

Hermitage during the Blockade, Gallery of the History of Ancient Painting, Biblical Subjects and Raphael Loggias in the Hermitage.