St. Petersburg blogger hung his portrait in the Hermitage and caused a scandal

Many people dream of fame. But it's not so easy to become famous these days, especially if you're a blogger, one of thousands. Although, if you think carefully, you can still attract attention to your person if you cause a scandal with your actions. This is what St. Petersburg resident Kirill Smorodin did, who hung his portrait in the Hermitage.

On October 20, travel blogger Smorodin came to the State Hermitage Museum and hung his framed portrait on the wall of the Military Gallery of 1812. In the painting, Kirill flaunts in the ceremonial uniform of the early 19th century and ... in a red knitted hat. The guy's actions were filmed on his girlfriend's phone and soon a photo with an unusual action appeared on Instagram.

The portrait of the "hero" decorated the pantheon of heroic defenders of the Fatherland for a short time. Hermitage workers noticed the new exhibit and immediately removed it. The blogger's action caused a mixed reaction from users. Some perceived it as a good joke, while others were genuinely outraged. The culprit of the hype admitted that he did not expect that his joke would be taken so seriously. In an interview with journalists , he said:

Probably, Kirill still regretted his act, since he would soon delete the picture and closed his account from visitors. But the event has already caused a resonance and has been discussed on the Internet and in the press. The State Hermitage Museum also reacted to it. The museum considered that by his action Kirill insulted the memory of the ancestors who defended Russia from the Napoleonic hordes.

The museum administration appealed to the prosecutor's office and asked to check the blogger's actions "for possible violations of the legislation of the Russian Federation, including in terms of publicly insulting the memory of defenders of the Fatherland." The statement was accepted and now they are trying to give a legal assessment to Kirill's act.

The action of the St. Petersburg blogger was not something new and unusual. All over the world, people who are hungry for PR, independently place their paintings in the expositions of famous museums. There were such cases in Russia. For example, a couple of years ago, a man in a thong covered with gold paint attracted the attention of visitors to the Tretyakov Gallery. While everyone was looking at the eccentric, his partner hung a picture of a platypus on the wall of the museum.