Donation of the unique amber art pieces collection

On 18 November the great ceremony of donating of the unique amber art pieces collection to the Kaliningrad Amber Museum by the Foundation "Development of  Charitable Programs" was held. Minister of Culture of Russian Federation Vladimir Medinsky and governor of Kaliningrad Region Nikalai Tsukanov participated in the event.

Forty artworks that are second to none were donated to the Museum by the president of the foundation "Development of Charitable Programs" Evgeny Tatuzov. It was made within one of the leading programs od the foundation - "Development of Russian Amber Art". Indicative cost of the collection according to the experts' estimation is 100 million rubles.

– Recently in our country there appeared quite a number of collectioners, – said Vladimir Medinsky. – But there are much less people for now, who expand their energy and means in collecting works of art and then donate them to a museum. Art patronage (meaning the word in Russian "меценатство") is some kind of a Latin word, I'm trying to find a Russian one, but nothing comes across. However I am sure that soon it will be. I - as president of the Russian Military Historical Society - am very pleased that among the given works there are rather many such ones, which can be used in patriotic education of youth.

Governor of the region Nikolai Tsukanov mentioned that the act of donation of the unique collection to the Amber Museum is an important event. There are not that many charity givers, who is ready to donate pieces of art to smaller cities.

– We are re-establishing the amber branch, - said Nikolai Nikolaevich, - and we are going to create comfort work conditions for artists, to promote our amber brand. It is gratifying that these wonderful works of art have found their home here.

Director of the Amber Museum Tatiana Suvorova expressed her gratitude to Evgeny Tatuzov for the priceless gift and mentioned that his name will be written in the history of culture of our city.

Initially Evgeny Tatuzov created a gallery "Amber House", which was opened in Saint Petersburg in 2007. First artworks were ordered to our townsmen. These works composed base of the collection, which was completed later with the unique works of the leading amber artists from Kalininrad and Saint Petersburg - models of high quality and skill of mosaic, stone-carving and jewellery art. Works of Alexander Zhuravlyov (1943 – 2009) justly got a special place; he was a restorer artist of the highest category, who had been conducting the process of recreation of the famous Amber Room in the Catherine Palace. Picture "Rus" created by Alexander Zhuravlyov in 2009 is part of the collection. It is the world biggest mosaic amber panel. It is executed in untraditional technique and is a complicated combination of amber composition and Florentine mosaic.

Donation of the items from the collection of the foundation "Development of Charitable Programs" to the Amber Museum is an unequaled event in the history of Kaliningrad region and it will certainly influence further development of culture and art in the westernmost region of Russia.