To the 225 anniversary of the Department of Museum Attendants

The history of the Department of Museum Attendants dates back to Catherine II time when there appeared the necessity to register, keep in good condition and restore works of art bought by the empress. The first record of this service was found in the fiscal report of 1774 kept now in the Russian Archive of Ancient Acts in Moscow.

On 1 of February 1794 Catnerine II signed an edict establishing a new class of court attendants and defining the succession of the post of the court attendant from father to son. On 25 of February 1839 a school for children of the court attendants was founded.

In 1796 Paul I decided to separate the Hermitage from the Imperial Court. Six years later grand chamberlain count D.Buturlin was appointed by the imperial ordinance to attend to the collection of pictures available in the Hermitage. In the act of 1825 "On adopting rules for the Hermitage" there is a direct instruction for the attendants to accompany visitors and prevent them from touching anything or approaching pictures and other articles in the most polite way. In 1854 it was decided not to follow visitors but to watch after one room and see that museum exhibits are preserved. From the middle of 1863 new rules for managing the Hermitage Museum were adopted together with the new staff including posts of "gallery attendants" of the first and second class. Today the Department of Museum Attendants consists of 303 members, many of them have been working in the Hermitage for more than 25 years.