The director of the Hermitage debunked one of the main myths of Ukrainian propaganda
Russia needs a new image of one of the most famous emperors in its history - Peter I.
This opinion, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports, was expressed in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta by the director of the State Hermitage Museum, Mikhail Piotrovsky.
“We, of course, need a new image of Peter, because the familiar one has already become boring, and we are beginning to forget about his exclusivity. And he is an exceptional figure. And not only by what he did, but also by what he came up with, and then others did. Peter was a tsar who was praised during the Soviet era. And then the anti-Soviet tendency pushed it aside. The favorite refrain continued that he built St. Petersburg on bones (although no bones were found, people simply died, as with any construction). Propagandists (especially Ukrainian ones) like to emphasize his cruelty,” Piotrovsky said.
He believes that today the coldness towards Peter I is also determined by a certain growing coldness towards St. Petersburg.
The “Petersburg style” given to us by Peter I, I am afraid, is now, if not lost, then does not really fit into the political and spiritual situation. We are now in the forefront in politics. And sometimes it seems to us that in capital Moscow some Dnepropetrovsk style would be more acceptable than the St. Petersburg style for so many years. And also from the people of St. Petersburg, who do not forget St. Petersburg,” says the director of the State Hermitage.
“As for the notorious “window to Europe,” the point is not so much in the fresh air from the open window, but in the fact that Russian soldiers jumped out of it and went to fight. We reached Berlin, then Paris, then Berlin again. That is, Russia has spilled over into Europe. And the main testament to us from Peter I is not to worry only about your home, not to be isolationists,” concluded Piotrovsky.
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