From March 30th to May 10, in the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, a "one-man show" is taking place of a picture after its restoration - Titian's "Portrait of Cardinal Antoniotto Pallavicini".

Until recently, in the Museum catalogues, there was not one important painting of Titian, the greatest Venetian painter of the 16th century, while the "Portrait of Cardinal Antoniotto Pallavicini" was listed for many years in the Museum as the work of Sebastian del Piombo.

Antoniotto Pallavicini (1441 - 1507) was one of the best known Roman prelates, belonging to an ancient aristocratic family. The portrait of the cardinal was painted after his death, possibly as a commission from his relatives. In the 17th century, the painting belonged to the Flemish painter Anthony van Dyck. In 1772, as part of the Crozat collection, Catherine the Great acquired the picture for the Hermitage and, all the way up to the 20th century, the picture remained a Titian. The idea that Sebastian del Piombo painted it was first proposed by the German scholar Otto Mundler and then taken up by the Italian Leonello Venturi. From that moment and for the course of almost 100 years, the painting was advertised as a del Piombo. The painting's poor preservation was one of the major reasons it was not included in the circle of Titian's works.

But, by the end of the 1930's, the well-known P. D. Korin, working in the Museum, was restoring canvasses. In 2002, the director of the painting restoration department of the G. M. Yerkhov Museum of Fine Arts began to identify and restore the numerous works darkened by age. At the same time, B. B. Lykianov began X-ray and infrared investigations of the paintings. With the help of these investigations, several details of a painter's trademark began to be seen in the pictures - in particular the contour of the head, which fit Titian's method of working and which is often met with in his works.

Restoration of the canvas, completed in 2004, has allowed us to once again appreciate its artist's qualities.

On April 6th, 2004, at 1 PM, a press briefing took place in the Exhibition Hall of the Ouspensky Bell-tower of the Moscow Kremlin. The briefing was dedicated to the exhibition "Blades of Russia - 2004". With this exhibition of the Museum of the Kremlin, the tenth anniversary of the "Blades of Russia" project is being celebrated, dedicated to the craftsmen of cold steel, the major directions in its development, and the possibilities of traditional weapons technology.

The exhibition is taking place in the most prestigious of the Kremlin's exhibition halls - the Ouspensky Bell-tower of the Museum of the Kremlin - and represents around 140 works of 78 leading master weapon makers from Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Stavropol, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskii, Tula, Ulan Ude, and other places.

The State Historical Museum presents the opening of the major exhibition "From the Stone Age to the 17th century".

The multi-year reconstruction of the State Historical Museum, begun in 1986, is now totally finished. The reconstructed interiors of the first floor, where each hall has its own unique image, highlights artistic decorations of its own particular era amid the many centuries of varied Russian history. Reconstruction of the permanent exposition was divided into several stages. In 1997, the first eight halls were opened, of ancient archeological pre-history, from the Stone Age to the formation of Ancient Rus'. The second stage - in February, 2003 - in halls 14 through 21, saw the reconstruction of Russia's history from the 15th to the 17th centuries.

With the opening of the remaining five halls on New Year's Eve, the State Historical Museum has completed its work on the creation of the exposition for the first floor. In the newly opened halls, objects are shown which relate to the history of Ancient Rus', the Russian lands and princedoms, the Golden Horde, and the Great Princedom of Muscovy.

From April 3rd to June 14, 2004, the exhibit "Moscow-Berlin/Berlin-Moscow. 1950-2000. A modern look" will be shown at the State Historical Museum.

The massive exhibit "Moscow-Berlin. 1950-2000" is a continuation of the exposition "Moscow-Berlin. 1900-1950" which was shown with much success eight years ago. However, it is not only a show of art from the chief megalopolises of Russia and Germany, it is also a wide-open retrospective look at the European cultural historical situation in the second half of the 20th century. For the greater part of this time, Moscow and Berlin (both East and West Berlin) were separated by a wall of ideological incompatibility, while they were both united by an atmosphere of the spiritual hopes and dreams, in which European society then lived.

The exhibition "Moscow-Berlin. 1950-2000" is not separated by demarcations of nationalistic schools or stylistic movements, it doesn't follow the lines of strict chronology. And, as a whole, it consciously avoids a severe structure, inasmuch as it had another aim - to try to comprehend the history of Eastern and Western Europe as an organic whole, as a general social experiment, as lived through and reflected in the clear, artistic forms of various countries and generations. It's not by chance that the subtitle of the exhibition is "A modern look", and its international composition is crucial - artists not only from Russia and Germany, but also from Sweden, Belgium, Italy, the US, and the Balkan region.

The exposition includes around 300 works (paintings, graphic arts, sculpture, objets d'art, photographs, video) from more than 130 artists from Russia, Germany, and other countries. Works are presented by such leading world collections, as the Georges Pompidou Center, the New National Gallery of Berlin, the Nancy and Norton Dodge collection, and others.

The Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, with the State Historical Museum, presents the exhibition "The Russian Historical Portrait. Era of the persona."

The exhibition is dedicated to the very earliest period of the existence of portraiture in Russia, in the second half of the 17th century, when this first genre of art for the gentility was first born.

The exhibition purports to show the birth of the portrait in the middle of the late mid-century art. The simultaneous exposition of the wide circle of personae and icons of the last third of the 17th century for the first time gives the viewer the

useful possibility of immediate comparison. All the more so, as the designers of the exhibition gave preference in their selection to those works of icon-painters who also painted personae.

In all sections of the exhibition, the selection was intentionally limited to those works, completed by Russian masters, or foreign masters working at the time in Russia.

The restoration work conducted allows seeing the original images of many monuments, freed from their later over-layers.

The exhibition consists of 100 unique monuments, selected for their exclusive cultural and historical significance, and gathered from 30 Russian and foreign museums, as well as from the Russian Record Office of ancient acts.

The exposition continues the tradition, begun in 1980 and dedicated to the worldwide day of laughter, of conducting April Fools' exhibitions.

The authors of these works, through the prism of satire, humor, and the grotesque, show their view of those changes, which have taken place in the country in the post-perestroika period. The themes, inspired by the artists, are: "The New Russians", "TV Election Debates," "Corruption in the Army and Law Enforcement Organs," "Morals and Customs," "New Values," and others.

On its anniversary, the twenty-fifth exhibition presents more than 150 works of 50 artists and caricaturists from Moscow and various regions of the country. Among them, the works of M. Zlatkovskii, S. Tyunin, O. Tessler, A. Pashkov, V. Chomyakov, A. Chervyakov, A Ryuizhov, V. Soldatov, as well as the works from the museum's collections of V. Peskov (1944 - 2002), laureate of international competitions, twice laureate of the "Golden Calf" award from the "Literary Gazette", laureate of the "Golden Ostap" award, and perpetual artist of the "Twelve Chairs" club of the "Literary Gazette". A separate floor exhibit is dedicated to the famous caricature master, V. Dubrov (1947 - 1993).

At the exhibit, the yearly award in the name of Oleg Tessler (1938 - 1995), outstanding caricaturist, will be given out.

The exhibit is open to visitors from April 2nd through April 30th, 2004.

From March 16th to May 30th, 2004, the exhibition "Festivities and celebrations in Western European engravings from the 16th to the 18th centuries" is taking place at the Hermitage.

The exhibition presents engravings which captured moments of dynastic festivities and gala ceremonies in Western Europe in the 16th - 18th centuries. Coronations and the funerals of sovereigns, their festive entry into cities, the marriages of princes and princesses, and the birth of heirs to the throne were all cause for celebrations that were supposed to create an aura of greatness around the persona of the ruler. Among the represented masters, there are very famous names: Lucas Cranach the Elder, Jacques Callot, Stefano della Bella, Jean Lepotre, Giuseppi Vasi, Charles-Nicolas Cochin-fils, Jean-Michel Moreau… The jewels of the show, without a doubt, are the Hermitage prints of two Dutch engravings of the 16th century: "The Coronation of Charles V" by Nikolaus Hogenberg and "The Funeral Procession in Brussels on the Occasion of the Death of Emperor Charles V", created on the basis of a drawing by Hieronymus Cock. Special attention should also be given to such rare prints as the proofs of engravings by Francois Chabot, made as illustrations to a publication devoted to Louis XIV's famous carousel. Included in the exhibition are also four artistic works of Rubens, closely connected with the theme of the exhibition.

On March 30, 2004, the The Freud's Dream Museum opened an exhibition of multimedia images of Nina Vitanova-Vlakhova, entitled "Brain Extension."

The multimedia images illustrate means of going out from the body, the extensions of man's psychic reality. Investigations of the possible psychic extensions begin with an interview of a family of artists and dancers from Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Then words are transformed into images. Sleep, fear, dream, virtual reality, hallucinations, inner doubles are visualized in the form of video clips, photographs, drawings.

Nina Vitanova-Vlakhova - artist and choreographer, has completed curator projects in Switzerland, Paris, and Moscow. She directs a studio of dance and the visual arts in Paris. Russian conceptualism has played a big part in the art of Nina Vlakhova. She lives in Paris.

The exhibition will continue in the Sigmund Freud Museum of Dreams from March 31st to May 1st. And in the "D137" Gallery, from March 31st to April 15th.

The ranking war museum of Russia - the Military-Historical Museum of Artillery, Engineers, and Signal Corps invites you on February 18, 2004 at 4 PM to take part in a press conference dedicated to preparations for the largest weapons exhibit in recent times in Russia: "Weaponry of the 20th Century. Time of the birth of legends."

The exhibition "Weaponry of the 19th century. Time of the birth of legends" draws the visitor's attention to more than 250 examples of artillery weapons. The aim of the exhibition is to show the coming into being of legendary artillery systems, many of which defined the further development of artillery weapons.

Among the displayed objects - the first breach-loading systems, the famous dueling weapon of the outstanding French weapon-maker Lepage (pistols of his work were used in the duel between A. S. Pushkin and J. Dantes), hunting weapons of the well-known masters - Perde, Francotta and others, the legendary Colt systems, Smith-Wesson, Mauzer, Nagan and others. Apart from this, visitors will see unique experimental models of artillery weapons, pistols of extraordinary construction - the harmonica pistol, the brass knuckles-dagger revolver, shortened and pocket pistols: bulldogs, guide-dogs and Derrinngers. Weaponry of famous makers, which in the 19th century were used not only by soldiers, but also by hunters, parties in a duel, and criminals.

The exhibition will continue to October 10th.

From November, the exhibition, "Six-legged Masters of the Planet," has been open in the Nature section of the Yaroslavl State Museum-Preserve. The exhibition will be of interest to all - both adults and children alike.

The exhibit displays material gathered by the first Yaroslavl museum-workers - there is, for example, a collection of tropical beetles, gathered by entomologists of the Yaroslavl Society of Natural History.

One of the displayed collections belongs to the Zoological Museum of the P. G. Demidov State University - these are mainly representatives of the scaly-winged: Emperor moths, cankerworms, hawkmoths, moths, owlet moths, and others.

At the exhibition, visitors can see the most typical insects, characteristic of the Yaroslavl oblast', which were collected by co-workers of the Museum-Preserve. The trophy collection of insects, brought from Koenigsberg in 1945 by one of Yaroslavl's officers, will be sure to attract the interest of visitors. At first it was used for instruction in schools, and then given to the Museum-Preserve. It is thought that the collection was prepared by the German firm of Otto Staudinger, considered one of the largest in the world in the collection and sale of insects to museums, scientific institutions, and individuals.

The Historical Museum of Porkhov are preparing for a large exhibition, which will open April 2nd, 2004. It will bear the name "From Palm Sunday to Whitsunday."

In the exhibition hall of the museum, on the eve of Palm Sunday, visitors can see and buy traditional bouquets and souvenirs. Artistically arranged compositions in flower pots, cache-pots and simply small bouquets, with the traditional blooming willow branch, are prepared by students of the House of Handicrafts and by teachers of kindergarten for invalids from Bel'skoe Ust'e. Florists gave the museum dried flowers and materials for flower arrangements.

The exhibition will be "live", constantly changing, closer to Whitsunday and Easter, traditional birch branches will appear, and Easter eggs, trays, pots, etc., will be added to the souvenirs.

Besides this, during these days, in the Porkhov museum, yet another unusual mini-exhibition will open - "On the Piano." Elegant lace work from the Piskunovich studio will be presented.

Source: Culture of the Pskov lands (http://culture.pskov.ru)

In Khanty-Mansisk, in the program of the festival "The Spirit of Fire" in the Museum of Geology, Oil and Gas, an International artistic exhibition has opened - "Inner Asia. The Northern Version."

The exhibition displays more than 120 works from more than 40 artists from towns in Siberia, Middle Asia, as well as from Moscow, Petersburg, Ufa, Chelyabinsk, Nizhni Tagil, and Kharkov. The theme of the exhibition has also attracted a number of artists from Holland, Germany, Finland, and even Australia.

The unifying factors for all the artists were their interest in the appearance of the archaic in modern art, the archetypical meaning of signs, and the metaphysical "inner" side to the artistic profession.

"Inner Asia. The Northern Version" is an original exhibition, and doesn't repeat any previous expositions, it is completely from new works. Among the participants are Francisco Infante, Vladimir Nasedkin, Sergei Byukhanov, Tatyana Badanina, Anna Taguti, Ivon Rins, Airat Teregulov, Latif Kazbekov, Vladimir Bugayev, and others.

The exhibition will continue in Khanty-Mansisk to April 25, after which it moves to Surgut.