ACIG and Grabar Center Sign Collaboration Agreement

ACIG and Grabar Center for Art Research and Restoration signed an agreement on implementation of joint art and culture projects. This agreement involves mutual assistance and cooperation between the two organizations in the field of art, enhancement of cultural exchange activities between Russia and foreign countries.

International cooperation is an important activity for both organizations. ACIG Group of Companies is a participant and strategic partner of several business-related international organizations, associations and initiatives such as UN Global Compact, UN ESCAP Business Advisory Council, German-Russian Economic Association, Russian-German Chamber of Commerce. Grabar Center employees maintain close ties with its foreign colleagues and participates in various international artwork restoration projects. Post-WWII restoration of the graphics collection of Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden, rehabilitation of objects of art from Florence museum collections including Galleria degli Uffizi which were compromised during the 1966 flood are among the most significant activities of the Center. Exhibitions of pieces of art restored by the Center have been held from the 1980s in many European cities as well as in Japan and South Korea.

Cooperation between ACIG and Grabar Center is aimed at discovering international projects related to restoration activities, research expert appraisals, historical and cultural landmark research as well as popularization of the Russian restoration industry beyond the home country. It involves mutual information sharing and consulting for the current and long-range issues and activities in art and culture and participation of both parties in art conventions.

Grabar Art Research and Restoration Center is the longest-standing Russian restoration institution established on 10 June 1918 as a research center for administration of all restoration activities across the country. Igor E. Grabar, famous art critic, art historian, author and editor of various fundamental publications, talented artist, initiated establishment of the Committee for Conservation and Discovery of Ancient Paintings (the initial title of the Center) and the domestic restoration school.

Nowadays, Grabar Center is a complex subdivided institution which includes departments for restoration of oil and tempera paintings, furniture, textiles, ceramics, graphics, manuscripts, stone and bone carvings as well as departments for research into physics and chemistry, research expert appraisals, archive and photo library. The Center includes branch offices in Arkhangelsk, Vologda and Kostroma.

Center professionals ensure high-quality performance of works by employing a wide range of different methods of restoration, meticulous and comprehensive pre-restoration research into objects of art, implementation of recent developments in art and technology. Grabar Center experts participated in the 2010 archeological expedition to Deir el-Banat in Fayum in Egypt together with the RAS Center for Egyptology where relevant research was performed and methods of primary treatment and conservation of objects of art discovered in the archeological excavation pit. The experts also performed research and restoration works in Al-Muallaka church in the area of Al-Fustat.