tv Charlie Rose PBS July 3, 2015 12:00am-1:01am PDT
12:00 am
>> rose:welcome to the program. tonight, we visit the state hermitage in saint petersburg russia,y a unique guide, the director of the museum mikhail piotrovsky. >> this is the throne room of the russian empire. >> rose: the throne room of the russian empire. >> the throne is here. and the main room is called saint judge hall. we stay here to look at the throne. it has its history. after the revolution, it was demolished, and the soviet union
12:01 am
was here. the precious stone. then the soviet union finished. >> rose: concluding remarks tonight from mark kelner vice president of the hermitage foundation. >> it's not an art museum, it's a museum of civilization. it's a museum that catherine -- when catherine the great founded it, we're having the 250th 250th centennial she's like, look, russia demands and deserves a museum much like the world's never seen. that was very much her personality and she started collecting. everyone's thinking she's collecting work that's very ancient. but the joke is she's collecting work that's contemporary to her and i like to think that the work that we're doing at the foundation is work that's contemporary to us. 20th century, 21st century. >> rose: the hermitage museum in saint petersburg, mikhail piotrovsky and mark kelner, when we continue.
12:02 am
>> rose: funding for "charlie rose" has been provided by: additional funding provided by: >> and by bloomberg, a provider of multimedia news and information services worldwide. captioning sponsored by rose communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. >> rose: tonight, we tour inside one of the largest and oldest repositories of art and culture in the world. all of my life, i've wanted to visit the hermitage museum in saint petersburg, russia, it is where catherine the great began assembling her personal art collection in 1764. today, it houses more than 3 million items including
12:03 am
everything from antiquities to the largest painting collection in the world. on a recent trip to saint petersburg i was able to finally visit this historic palace of art. my guide, mikhail piotrovsky, hermitage director and a good friend. many consider him the most influential art director in the world. he inherited the post from his father in 1992, and has guided the museum through its transition from the soviet union to the presidency of vladimir putin. with little notice -- very little notice -- he made time for me and invited me to visit on a saturday afternoon. the museum was full of people. this is not movie-making perfection but it is what it would be like if you were there yourself. so join us as we examine the history of its vast interiors and look at some of the most famous works of titian rembrandt, picasso and matisse. we began in mikhail piotrovsky's office.
12:04 am
this was done on a busy weekend with no lights, one camera and no preparation. we simply took advantage of an extraordinary opportunity and wanted to take you with us on the journey. >> rose: we are in the office at the hermitage of mikhail piotrovsky. he and i have known each other for a long time and he has been on my program a number of times, including recently when he talked about the 250th 250th anniversary of this remarkable museum. his office looks like anybody's office that loves books, that loves art that loves culture but it is from this office that he directs this magnificent museum, it extensions and the art that he brings in and the art that he allows to be seen around the world. this great museum put together by catherine, first at the palace and then as a museum recently celebrating the 250th 250th anniversary, he has
12:05 am
assumed the directorship of this museum following his father. there's a photograph of his father here. but he's been to america a number of times. this is the first time i have been in saint petersburg and in hermitage. of all the things that i wanted to do, certainly high on the list was to interview the president, but secondly was to come here to this place and meet this man. >> thank you. thank you. thank you and welcome to the office. it's my office. it was my father's office for many years. historically, it was the office of the ministers of the russian empire. >> rose: the captain of ministers were here. >> yes. and it's a working office now because i work here, and all that is historical the desk belongs to alexander the iii. we had many desks like this. the clothes belong to
12:06 am
tchaikovsky. this is a tap industry from our founding father. this is the way of diplomatic gifts. this is the ay of giving their portraits as diplomatic gifts now they give this. >> rose: this prince philip. and queen of netherlands. >> rose: and monaco. all friends of hermitage, because we have a lot of friends. >> rose: and there's a clock. and a cannon. >> rose: a cannon that goes off. wow. and here is -- may i take this? >> yeah, sure. >> rose: this is your father. yes, my father worked all his life, 26 years as director and all his life, 80 years old, 70 years, from the young student to director was an archeologist. >> rose: he was an archeologist? >> a great archeologist.
12:07 am
nothing in comparison to him. >> rose: arab and islamic art. and ancient history all of his life. >> rose: and you took over from him at his death? >> at his death, yes, it was in 1991, he died. in 1992 i became director. i was appointed director of hermitage. >> rose: there is a remarkable similar later between the two of you. >> he was a little bit taller than you. my mother wasn't. >> rose: what was the legacy that he left you? >> well, the legacy was the first one the scholarship the main thing for the museum. it was a tradition in the directors of the museum, scholars write books, pub lush publish books. my last one came out two days ago. scholarship is my legacy which
12:08 am
you need a lot of time and effort to protect because this problem -- >> rose: repeat the question that you have to ask. >> that the museum is more a temple. >> rose: a temple. a temple and a university than a disneyland. >> rose: so the museum is more of a temple and a university. it is not a disneyland. >> it is not a disneyland. >> rose: it is the home the best of civilization can produce. >> produce. >> rose: culture. it needs explanation. we have to explain to the people. it's not something you just come and you're happy. you have to study you have to think, you have to look, you have to listen to some explanation and then you understand how beautiful it is. >> rose: and also, you know this well, as countries go from one administration, one rule to
12:09 am
another, it has to be always protected at the center of learning and the best of civilization. it has a unique place you hope, about politics. >> we think it is enough politics. always, we have to use it as a connection between the nations where the politics is that's exactly how it is now, but you have to protect it also when the political situations change we have to protect it, also have national treasure from all different kinds of intervention ideological or monetary or whatever. >> rose: we'll talk more about that later but you want to show me today what? >> i want to show you one important thing two important things. the first one, tradition. this museum and the palace, it was always palace and museum, because catherine the great
12:10 am
established hermitage as a part of her palace, then built buildings for her collections, but also was part of the palace. it was the royal life, the important political decisions and pictures and sculptures around. so this combination of the museum and the palace is more or less unique, that's why the hermitage is a great collection of art and monumental history of russia and political history. it began with peter the great and ended with the second. >> rose: she was remarkable. she was a fantastic woman. she has done so many things which -- from which we can learn now. beginning with presenting history collecting behaving when a woman behaved like a
12:11 am
man -- (laughter) and we study every year. it's always very interesting and important. >> rose: so what we will do this afternoon is not only see some of the best art, but also the fact that the hermitage has expanded beyond its original. >> yes. >> rose: you have new buildings. >> so new buildings, we have a conception called the great hermitage, which means that expansion but not exactly just you build it. sometimes it's new buildings then new buildings with storage where we show everything what we have in storage. then hermitage in europe in russia, so it's a very dynamic two sides on internet. it's a dynamic system of hermitage. global hermitage. it's more than just extension. global hermitage. we're rather ambition. >> rose: ambition to be global
12:12 am
as an expression. >> as expression of world culture. this great media was collected in russia first but it doesn't belong just to russia it belongs to the world. it belongs to the world. that's why we want the presence all over the world. that's why we have connections in france and organization and friends all over the world. that's why, when we have problems, we have friends all over the world we ask them with this kind or at kind of help, because we belong to the world and the world belongs to us. it's a very important issue today. we think it's very important. it's a world museum. it belongs to the world. >> rose: does everybody in russia like that? >> not everybody in russia likes this. >> rose: i could not be more excited about coming here with you to see. i'm almost happy that i haven't seen it before. >> well, i'm always saying to people who can for the first
12:13 am
time, so i lead the way. the hermitage is also a theater. there's a small theater in the hermitage for catherine the great. >> rose: she shared with her friends. >> she loved theater. she was into historical opera. >> rose: in the museum? with a saturday afternoon crowd. how many people on an average -- >> on average, we have 3 million and a half every year. >> rose: every year, 3 and a half million people. >> the problem is most come in the summer. >> rose: as we do this in june, we have all of the people from school.
12:14 am
>> exactly. this is an italian apartment. here we have beautiful views. >> rose: peter and paul portraits. >> and will be the celebration of the neva. >> rose: this is the neva right here. >> and one of the special features of hermitage is it's not only one of the best collections, it's the best view from the window in the world. (laughter) no other museum in the world has this. >> rose: you say that as the proud director of the hermitage. >> right. well, because this is one of the most famous rooms. >> rose: what are we seeing here? >> of leonardo da vinci. >> rose: this is the room of leonardo da vinci. >> we have two pictures of
12:15 am
leonardo da vinci. most masterpieces. >> rose: wow. and this room has been used as a guest room for the guests. >> rose: the guests to have of the czars. >> of the czars. >> rose: oh. this is the room of titian. this is a most important painting in our collection. >> rose: has any other leader done as much for art as catherine? >> well, it is difficult to compare. she was simply in come competition but she has done more. also she had trick that she knew. she was buying the best collection.
12:16 am
she bought a collection from paris. she bought a collection from the first prime minister of britain. she knew to buy the best. so her style and collection -- >> rose: she must have had a group of people who informed her. >> she had some friends intellectuals who advised her. she had russian diplomats who knew what she liked and she also had friends dealers, who had been telling here. so she was good at getting advice. >> rose: about quality and price. >> about quality and price. this is one of the paintings done by titian. it's one of the first
12:17 am
landscaping and recently restored ten years to clean it properly. so it's a new one of our -- >> rose: took it out of circulation. >> we took it out of circulation. >> rose: and cleaned it over ten years? >> over ten years. it was a cleaning which took ten years, just to clean up to paint something additional. well, this is problem. well, this is also a problem because that's why we have exhibitions all over the world because you must show all these things and show them because we only have ten in one room, it's hard to appreciate them all. we bring one masterpiece from one museum for those who do
12:18 am
understand. >> rose: with changes in politics, is it difficult to get museums in other parts of the world to loan to you? or have you -- >> sometimes it is difficult. now it is difficult because it just depends on policy and economics and now it's drudge rifor two years. we don't have exchanges. because there is a russian state is afraid somebody could be arrested. >> rose: right. we demand proper guarantee of the state, not just legislation a guarantee that it comes it comes back, so we are now the in the middle of negotiations. this is one of the best pictures in the world rembrandt, the
12:19 am
return of the prodigal son. and this is one of the biggest treasures. i love the return of the prodigal son. it's in the theological center. >> rose: rembrandt and the return of the prodigal son we're in the room where it is. so this is another rembrandt room. >> another rembrandt room. we have approximately 21 recommend brants. >>21rembrandts. >> rose: 21. let's look at this. this is the holy famine. >> rose: this is the holy famine. >> one of the most human pictures by rembrandt. >> rose: rembrandt, holy family, dated 1645.
12:20 am
rembrandt lived from 1506 to 1669. 1772, acquired by the hermitage in 1772. >> yes. during the first world war, they wanted to evacuate for hermitage. two trains left one stayed because the civil revolution happened. >> rose: right. during the second world war they have three trains. two left and the one -- >> rose: where did they take the art when they took it away? >> hero mountain. >> rose: what is this room? this is italian and spanish rooms. this is the room of the spanish collection. this building was build for nikoli i.
12:21 am
they planned to build this museum which is to be a masterpiece of museum architecture. it is decorated by objects from stone, russian-made. it was nikoli i idea to put the stone room there. and so we have this collection of paintings. >> rose: the great room. the great room. the big rooms. >> rose: where do we go from here? >> through the dutch paintings. >> rose: okay. peter the great. >> peter the great. loved netherlands, holland. for him he said holland was the most technically-developed country in the world in europe. he learned a lot from holland. also he loved dutch art.
12:22 am
so we have the best collection of dutch art outside of holland. the rembrandt and many many other rooms. >> rose: catherine did she buy a lot of flemish art as well? >> yes, and we'll see some of the flemish art as well. and the dutch with small paintings -- >> rose: just look at this room. >> this is one of the rooms. there is another problem of the rooms. >> rose: everything is beautiful. everything has been so thoughtfully considered. how many employees at the hermitage? >> we have 2,500.
12:23 am
>> rose: curators. now it's terrible, we have more and more people in security. >> rose: because of terrorism. because of terrorism, period. we have increasing security. but in general, we have something like 300 curators, 300 restorers. >> rose: you're constantly restoring? >> yes. first of all, every picture that goes to exhibition must be restored and comes back. and we have the scientific exploration where you just study. >> rose: and they give you new insights once you clean it. >> absolutely. these two paintings are from the first painting in the hermitage. >> rose: this one?
12:24 am
this one and this one. adam and eve -- nu the first painting that -- >> in the hermitage. >> rose: catherine the great. 1764. >> rose: 1764. where did she buy it from? >> political story. >> rose: yeah. it was the war between russia and prussia. and it was ended. during the war german collected a collection of paintings. but the war ended and had no money to buy this collection spent all the money on his war with russia. and russia had the money. so catherine bought the collection. the collection was very important politically.
12:25 am
>> rose: this is a crossing from -- >> a crossing from the hermitage buildings. the buildings called hermitage. the courtyard and one building one to another. the building of small hermitage. first floor. >> rose: so we're now -- now we are in the rooms, we are going along the garden and we're in the rooms for the early netherlands painting. and this gallery has been the first which catherine built for her collection, and we are crossing and entering the winter palace, the main residence. >> rose: describe the winter palace. in the beginning, it was palace and a humid. >> in the beginning, it was
12:26 am
palace and a museum. from the beginning, it was buildings built for the museum near the palace. so at the reception, it was a combination of museum and palace. and start to the left now, we turn into the winter palace official residence of russian czars. we entered -- we enter not from the main entrance. while this is the judge vault this is the throne room of the russian empire. >> rose: the throne room of the russian empire. >> the throne is here. and the room is judge. and the judge was considered
12:27 am
romano and the room is called san judgesaint judge hall. we stay here to look at the throne and it's history. after the revolution, it was demolished and the mat from soviet union put it here of precious stone. then soviet union put it in another museum. and a we found it in different places in the museum. >> rose: what happened in the throne room? >> in the throne room, well, there was a big mat of soviet union, precious stones and here we usually display for big ceremonies and here we display
12:28 am
the important ones. >> rose: right. vladimir putin gave the museum -- >> the 250th anniversary. >> rose: to faberge. yes. >> rose: he gave it to you from where? he acquired it or -- >> he acquired it. it was bought by russian businessmen. >> rose: and presented to the president. >> presented to the president to give it to the museum. >> rose: that's how i heard it. >> this is the way to return back thanks. >> rose: so these russian businessmen, oligarchs, very wealthy, as they travel around the world, they see art for sale. >> and most of their directions
12:29 am
are baroque. >> rose: yes. so it's not easy to make them -- to say to them bring them forever back to russia. >> rose: vladimir putin as your president would like for his hermitage -- >> well, it's a good thing. usually, this year, he was sitting. >> rose: never sitting? the czar was always standing? >> always standing. the ambassador before coming to the throne room have been crossing through this room. the military room which has portraits of all the generals in
12:30 am
the russian army who fought against napoleon. >> rose: first the russians showed napoleon no, then said to hitler no. >> yes, exactly. >> rose: yes. and 19th century was much cleaner than the 20th century. >> rose: these are the generals who fought napoleon. >> only this has the duke of ellington. these are tall great families. >> rose: wow. unbelievable. it just goes on and on and on. we're still at the palace. >> with we're still in the palace. in the main rooms of the winter palace. this is called the room of the crest of arms. we have crests of arms of all the governors of russia on the
12:31 am
chandelier. so when the governors have been coming to be presented, there have been everybody standing under the symbol. a wonderful picture of russian army entering berlin for the first time in 1760, the time of elizabeth ii and peter ii. >> rose: and is here now because to have the commemoration of the 70th -- >> of 70 years of -- >> rose: since being in world war ii right? >> 70 years. >> rose: i love the size of it, too, and the scope of it. >> we had a lot of wonderful military paintings. they need space to be shown. >> rose: and this room?
12:32 am
this room is called alexander skival. once again, it's about the victory over napoleon. this portrait of alexander, this belongs to him. now we have the big exhibition of european silver. but the room by itself has the picture, symbols of different battles between the russians and -- >> rose: in a way napoleon gave a lot to russian art. >> absolutely. absolutely. absolutely. >> rose: his defeat commission so much. >> and it was -- this war was such a -- a very clean war for russia. it was a war where it was very clean. we were right in defending our country and something to be proud of. that's why all this is
12:33 am
commemorating. >> rose: we will see some of the new. >> you will see some of the new. cross the square. where it's beautiful, we'll cross the square and we'll see the eastern wing of the building which is called the general. >> rose: okay. beautiful day! >> saint petersburg's day. this is a collection of matisse, one of the best in the world. >> rose: look at this look at this. >> not every picture likes a big hall. there's too much light. it's always an experiment. this is the famous madame matisse. this looks very much like a persian miniature.
12:34 am
>> rose:holm>> rose: how many matisse? around 40. this is a fantastic matisse for me it's the best. >> rose: the best. the best one. >> rose: but you have something on loan to the new museum. >> yes, we have. these pictures, it's music and dance. we have agreements with them for certain exchange and cooperation. >> rose: i love the color. the color is fantastic.
12:35 am
>> rose: so you must be very proud of this. in addition to the hermitage. >> now they have proper space and you can experiment with this. this is a fantastic portrait and now it looks very well. also there are some discussions now. i decided to make kind of a -- the kind of referendum of visitors. how do you like the new display. >> rose: yeah. because it's right it's wrong. >> rose: people who come to stay museum. >> people who come to see the museum. thinking about having matisse, white walls, red walls. >> rose: and what's the response? do you know? >> i don't know. i'm just excited to do it. this is a fantastic red room. i think it will look very well. >> rose: how do you feel about
12:36 am
it yourself, from your own sense. >> good. >> rose: works for you? works for me. >> rose: the light. a week ago, i was here, it was best. i think now it looks right. >> rose: yeah. this is picasso. >> rose: so here we are. here we are. >> rose: how good is your picasso collection? >> also very good, fantastic. matisse is the best. >> rose: yes. this is picasso. >> this is the best picasso we have. >> rose: oh sure. and this is what it's like on the level of -- >> rose: yes, almost you can see the connection.
12:37 am
1908. >> 1908. >> rose: but you can still see, can't you some of these paintings in the museum of modern art? >> yes it's the same period and the same way of showing. >> rose: every one of these rooms has natural light. >> yes, every one of these rooms. most have the natural light. and this play between modern forms and classical -- >> rose: and light floors. floors. it's an historical building, so this is the way we show it. >> rose: yeah. tell me about the paintings. >> this is one of the great picasso paintings called sisters. has a lot of stories. two citiers meeting in a prison,
12:38 am
in a hospital, marie and elizabeth. it can have many explanations to it. >> rose: how long has this been in the russian collection? >> it is from the most private collection of any that came to hermitage. >> rose: so this is the gift of -- >> a gift from the united states of america just on our anniversary. a big collection of american art, applied american art and masterpieces, collected in american history given to us from the american foundation of hermitage. so it's a whole room of masterpieces of american decorative art. it's a big addition to our collection. >> rose: so the hermitage is not only building it's acquiring. >> yes, we're acquiring. we have a lot a lot of friends.
12:39 am
this is another gift, given by the artist. considered to be one of the masterpieces of art of the 20th century. and this is a wonderful thing. it's kind of a history of russia. then inside we have the picture of soviet russia with some old soviet songs and songs are nostalgic. >> rose: yes. and this is always a problem to explain this is not rubbish it's installation. but we added another thing to this. this is the next stage. >> rose: this is. are you saying it's in the dust
12:40 am
bin of history? >> destroyed everything to build something. everything was destroyed. now i think we've shown we can build something. >> rose: yes. it's a very important gift. this costs $5 million $6 million. >> rose: and given to you by. by the artist himself. >> rose: ah. do you ever think about stopping work? >> no. (laughter) no, because this will never stop.
12:41 am
it's my hobby. >> rose: quite a hobby, sir. so i work. >> rose: after you. so after a couple of hours walking around, looking at this amazing museum and not only the past and the present, but the future. we watched at the end the mounting of an exhibition. what does it mean to you, this place? >> well, to me, it is my home because i've grown up here. but it's one of the greatest working symbols of russian culture and world culture. it's a wonderful place. it's a place which helps people to live and helps people to be isolated from all the terrible things which are happening around, political and troubles and not only political.
12:42 am
people come to this museum and temple and it's a function which does work. >> rose: thank you for being our guide thank you for being our friend, thank you for keeping this place in such a remarkable way so that it continues, we saw with new exhibitions, with new space, yet, at the same time, acquiring art across the spectrum. thank you. >> thank you very much. sorry for taking so much of your time. it's all i wanted to show you. >> rose: i have friends around the world. this is a remarkable place. this is beyond political conflict, beyond politics. this is a place that harbors some of the great great treasures of the world and for me to come and be here and to see it with my own eyes and to have such an articulate and brilliant and honored guide has
12:43 am
been one of the great pleasures of my life. you should all come to russia and see the hermitage as a reflection of a great country. >> rose: continuing our exploration of the hermitage, we talk to mark kelner. he is the vice president of the hermitage foundation, and we began with that question, what is the hermitage foundation? >> hermitage foundation is a group of american friends that are interested in supporting the hermitage and its direct in whatever they might need logistically greatively financially in exhibiting western and american art or in work that needs help in the hermitage. we have a very interesting situation because, in the post soviet period there's a period that involves cultural diplomacy, that they can call on us saying we're interested in learning about american art and what access can you offer in new york, you know in ohio.
12:44 am
>> rose: we're in a post-soviet period. >> and it's sometimes difficult in terms of what's going on politically, but truthfully these are servants of culture that aren't paying attention to what happens politically. >> rose: your essential function is to serve the hermitage. >> yes, and specifically whatever request they might have, logistically. >> rose: a bit about you -- russian parents. >> yeah. >> rose: you were conceived in russia. >> yes. >> rose: you were born in america. >> in cleveland, very proudly. >> rose: and you want to be or are an artist. >> i'm an artist. a lot of my work is rooted in that russian-american duality. i think that's what led me to working with russian collectors of art. anything having to do with art that had to be coming from a russian place, i was involved in. there are russian immigrant artists in new york considered staples of international contemporary work, and i was
12:45 am
around them and because of that the hermitage foundation found me, and we got to work together in a couple of interesting contemporary, international contemporary projects. it was really kind of cool. hard to say no to. >> rose: considering your background characterize this museum for me. >> it's not an art museum. it's the museum of civilization. it's the museum that catherine, when catherine the great found it, we were having our 250th 250th centennial. she's, like, look, russia demands and deserves a museum much like nothing world's ever seen. and that's very much her personality and she started collecting. what's interesting is everyone is thinking she's collecting work that's very ancient but the joke among hermitage is she's collecting work that's contemporary to her. i would like to think the work we're doing at the foundation is work contemporary to us. 20th century, 21st century.
12:46 am
when dr. piotrovsky comes to america, i got a chance to introduce him to great artists curators galleryists that are interested in using the hermitage as a means of promoting culture they've never seen before. >> rose: who is this man my audience just had a chance to walk through a museum he's been a director of and his father has been a director of. who is he? >> the decider. the hermitage is a very totalitarian environment. one man makes all the decisions. >> in addition to what art goes on the wall, where they put it. >> or when charlie rose shows up on any specific day unannounced, yes, i'll lead him on a tour right now. it's very much his schedule. i mean, that's it. i mean, there's no separating someone from his station from that -- you know, that's his
12:47 am
life, that he very much turned every part of that museum into his life. when he comes here he's not just representing the hermitage he's representing russian culture and culture that is essentially world culture that needs to be explored. >> rose: and how does a museum and a director handle those times in which the politics are strained between russia and the united states or russia and much of the western world? >> i think right now there's -- it makes for a sad state of affairs that russian art has always been politicized, that no matter what, avant-garde or during non-soviet times, that russian art has been censored. there's a self censorship among contemporary artists in russia -- >> rose: for fear. for fear of prosecution that if my voice speaks up, am i
12:48 am
going to jail for it? and a lot of these actionisms that we see are artistic in their roots and a lot of people are scared, and we don't know what direction things are going to go. on the other side of that coin, we have the hermitage museum that is been around for 250 years and governments and regimes have come and gone to the hermitage estate historically and that's the world i like to occupy in. that's when i go out with my tin cup and talk to people and sayú3 let's support the hermitage museum in terms of building their contemporary art collection for the first time. let's get a warhol. let's try to find people who are interested. if we're in the service of culture politics really shouldn't be something that we should be concerned about. it's gotten more difficult to talk to people and be a true leader for the museum, but among our crowd, i don't think many
12:49 am
people care. >> rose: there is a lot of rich people in russia now, too. >> there's a lot of rich people in russia. there's this guided notion i have trouble with sometime. we're a 501c3, we have a situation with a lot of rich russians in new york, why can't they help the culture. but the crux of what i'm trying to say, in america we have a system, where the wealthy, charlie, have supported art museums and museum culture. nothing like that exists in russia and never has. we don't have a situation -- we're trying to show -- and i speak with russian americans -- i mean we're trying to show that, look, it's your responsibility for where you know -- for -- you have a choice. you have an opportunity to promote culture in russia outside of russia, supporting the hermitage, and it's your responsibility, and no one else will do it if not you and i want the hermitage taj
12:50 am
foundation to be a leader in holding the flag and saying we need help. look at our system and how does that behoove the hermitage museum? hermitage has a lot of friends. there are a lot of people who recognize the hermitage without recognizing we're living in salad salad'svladimir putin's russia. >> rose: we have been through crimean war, the russian revolution, the cold war and the friendship has survived, the friendship between the museum and the world has survived all the way through. none of us in any great museum has had to confront anything like the change in the hermitage has, it stayed completely true to the tradition of a great repository, the interningle community, one can only guess how complicated that must be administratively politically and financially, that from neil mcgregor.
12:51 am
>> 3 million objects are stored at the hermitage. there's no way anyone can see in their lifetime. >> rose: 10% is on display. less. even though a huge museum 3 million objects. also a museum that's interested in establishing satellites. all throughout russia there will be a satellite concerning contemporary art. that extends to europe. my goal would be i would love to see a hermitage museum here in the united states. that would be a dream. why not? you know, despite whatever political manifestations of relations and you know it's tough. we're in a cold war 2.0 perhaps. but, you know, i hope not. but i don't see why that has to be -- why art has to be politicized in that way. i mean, it's the common core of what we have as -- >> rose: it's a culture of
12:52 am
civilization. >> i think so. >> rose: and it is a way to -- we live in a very, very difficult time in terms of culture because we see people for a variety of reasons destroy culture as a political statement. >> the people at the leadership of the hermitage museum foundation, our chairman of the board, has been in business since the early 1970s and i asked him about this, he's turkish. i said look at what's going on with i.s.i.s., with people destroying culture and trying to make their own by destroying you know, trying to make a legacy by destroying what's been before. and he said, mark, it's a terrible situation but we move forward. there's no choice but to. you know, if there's wars that are going on, we're involved in preventing it by sharing what we have in common. >> rose: thank you for coming.
12:53 am
thank you for having us. >> rose: pleasure to meet you. my pleasure. >> rose: this was an amazing experience for us and lots of people deserve credit and you will see a special credit list at the end. but i want to single out some people who without them it would not have been possible. mikhail piotrovsky, obviously. yvette vie vega, the cameraman who did a remarkable job my colleagues jeff and fred who came in and helped us put together the package. christine edwards on my staff was wonderful in editing this thing and making it presentable to you and corey who helped write it and put together our understanding of what the hermitage means. it has been for all of us an unbelievable experience. to look at others who made it possible. for more about this program and earlier episodes, visit us
12:54 am
12:55 am
>> rose: on the next charlie rose, a conversation can david rennic, editor of the "new yorker" magazine and unique stories looking back at the founding fathers who created it all. >> so this business of the regalian march toward historical progress, i think that's way overconfident. and when discussing america, there are a lot of people who are without resources and who look at the widening gap of incomes and any number of other problems and, so, for us it's great to celebrate on july 4, but complacency is not an option. >> they didn't think necessarily each individual was unique but they knew they were present at the creation of something special. in 1776, john adams writes to abigail and says start saving every letter i write you. purchase a leather volume to put
12:56 am
them all in. jefferson invents a machine to make copies for all his letters and by the end of the lives of both adams and jefferson who are the most interesting symbolic creatures because of their combination of friendship and rivalry, when they write letters, they're writing to us. >> rose: funding for "charlie rose" has been provided by: additional funding provided by: >> and by bloomberg, a provider of multimedia news and information services worldwide. captioning sponsored by rose communications
1:00 am
this is "nightly busine" with tyler mathisen and sue herera. >> not as good as it looks. the unemployment rate drops to the lowest level in seven years but for all the wrong reasons. historic settlement. bp tries to put the gulf oil spill behind i by agreeing to the largest environmental settlement ever. crucial vote. the greeks head to the polls to decide tcountry. but what exactly are they voting on? all of that and more for "nightly for this thursday july 2nd. >> good evening, everyone. welcome. okay but not great. that's how the june employment report is being described. the u.s. economy created 223,000 jobs in june a decent number but less economists had been
121 Views
IN COLLECTIONS
KQED (PBS) Television Archive The Chin Grimes TV News Archive Television Archive News Search ServiceUploaded by TV Archive on