Russia: SCI Dutch Cultural Heritage Medal of Honour for colleague Pavel Kouzmine

The Foundation for Cultural Inventory (SCI) awarded Pavel Kouzmine, the cultural heritage specialist of the Netherlands Embassy in Moscow, a Medal of Honour for his many years of assistance promoting Dutch cultural heritage abroad.

One of the strongest Russian-Dutch collaborations in the Arts is the one between art restorers from the two countries. Every year since 2013 Dutch and Russian experts in the field of painting and paper restoration meet and discuss new approaches and technologies in their work. All these years, Pavel Kouzmine has been working hard from behind the scenes to support and facilitate this exchange. On 28 February, during the presentation of the proceedings of an earlier workshop at the GosNIIR (the national restoration institute) in Moscow, Pavel was called to step into the limelight to receive his well-deserved medal. ‘Participants and diplomats come and go, but you have been the constant factor driving this cooperation’, said Lia Gorter (director of the SCI) in her address.

Pavel is the third laureate of the Dutch Cultural Heritage award. The first one was Yuri Trofimov, the Minister of Culture of Omsk Oblast in Siberia, followed by Prof. Dr. Irina Sokolova, chief curator of the Dutch and Flemish art collection at the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.

The book that was presented that day by the SCI combines articles by Russian and Dutch specialists on Dutch art in Russian collections, and on their conservation and restoration. The articles were based on presentations given in 2015 by these specialists during a workshop in Omsk. The presentation on 28 February coincided with the Mist Lining workshop held at the Tretyakov Gallery by experts from Stichting Restauratie Atelier Limburg (SRAL) and the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.