Summing up our achievements and best acquisitions in 2020, we can't but lament what it all could have been without the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns that affected everyone and everything, including cultural institutions.
After nearly 4.18 million visitors in 2019, this year's lockdown of 116 days in the Catherine Palace and 97 days in the parks of Tsarskoe Selo, as well as global traveling and other restrictions, resulted in just 0.96 million visitors. Experiencing our palaces and parks in a deserted silence came out insightful: beauty is lacking without anyone to see it. However, the Museum's life online has prospered.
Top Achievements:
- Our social media channels (check this page's lower right) reached out to over 22 millions in Russia and all over the world, with over 4 million views of our online lectures and tours on YouTube and other channels.
- We started the Podcasts of Tsarskoe Selo (in Russian).
- We did not halt our restoration projects of the Alexander Palace and Catherine II's private rooms in the Catherine Palace, as well as the completion of the Lyons Hall (all expected to open in 2021).
- Atlas head found at the Alexander Palace will greatly help the planned restoration of atlantes on the façade of the Catherine Palace.
- Bronze Hercules of the Cameron Gallery is reinstalled after restoration.
- Marking the WWII End 75th Anniversary, we published a collection of articles dedicated to the Tsarskoe Selo employees who preserved it during the war and restored afterwards
- Catalog of our collection "Cold steel arms from the Asiatic Room" is published.
- Immersive audio promenade show Eternal Return is launched in the Catherine Park.
Top Acquisitions:
(over twenty in total, mostly purchased with donations from the Museum's Friends)
- Plate presented to Nicholas II in 1914
- Traveling trunks of Nicholas II's mother
Top Exhibitions:
- Palaces of Tsarskoe Selo, Reborn from the Ashes (online and offline)
- A History in Objects (online and offline)
- Olifants of Knights
- Prisoners of War during WWI
Top Awards:
- Winner in the Research & Restoration nomination at Intermuseum 2020
- Winner in the nomination Best Implemented Restoration/Reconstruction Project at the Third International Golden Trezzini Awards
