Hermitage Museum to open new branch in Moscow’s ZIL factory building

Russia’s State Hermitage Museum is planning to open a branch in Moscow’s former car factory ZIL — a 1960s-era factory complex occupying 2 million square metres in the south of the city. Yesterday, director of the Hermitage Museum Mikhail Piotrovsky signed an agreement over the new branch with the LSR Group, who will be responsible for developing the space.

“We will create a new sort of museum life in the new space. This won’t just be an exhibition centre, but a more comprehensive space of the Hermitage, with lectures, performances and exhibitions of St Petersburg artists,” Piotrovsky said, adding that the Hermitage’s Moscow branch will be developed to support contemporary art.

According to Piotrovsky, the new museum branch will be developed according to the standard template used to develop the other satellite branches in Amsterdam, Kazan and Vyborg.

Until recently, ZIL was still a functioning car factory, only ceasing its construction of lorries and limousines when incumbent Moscow mayor Sergey Sobyanin transformed the space into a hub for creative businesses. The building is now home to media company Rambler-Afisha and an experimental theatre collective.