Internet resources: A.S. Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts launches its updated website

On March 1 2011 the A.S. Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts launched its updated website available at http://www.arts-museum.ru/.

Museum’s Director, Irina Antonova, says that the new website, developed with support of the government of Russia and the Ministry of Culture has been built on a so-called “planetary system” and consists of the main website with access to general information about the museum and websites-satellites, which contain detailed information on collection sections, departments and branches of the museum. Moreover, the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts has been registered in social networks whose users will be the first to learn about all upcoming exhibitions and events. The museum will offer its online visitors the latest technological solutions with multimedia technology, which would enable them to stroll along museum’s virtual halls, explore works in the smallest detail and choose thematic sections. Today the website welcomes users to familiarize themselves with “Byzantium art” section, to be in future extended by halls showcasing Italian and Spanish paintings of 17th-18th cc.

“The portal provides a diversity of materials. Except for the Hermitage Museum, no other museum collection in Russia possesses such material: here you can find graphic works, numismatics, decorative and applied arts, and modern art”, Irina Antonova added.

The website now provides access to about 9 500 works from the collection of the A.S. Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, 3 000 works feature detailed description. All images are protected by special technologies from copying and illegal use.

The necessity of launching the museum’s new website arose long ago – an old one didn’t meet museum’s high status neither in respect of its design nor its content. Therefore it was decided to allocate money to develop a new site to time it to the museum’s centenary celebrated in 2012.