MOSCOW, November 14. /TASS/ The Museums topic session moderated by General Director of the Russian State Hermitage Mikhail Piotrovsky will be held on November 16, on the first day of the 9th St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum.

The need of preserving "cultural bridges" globally will be among the key issues to be discussed by the session attendees, Piotrovsky told TASS.

"When the situation has just started aggravating globally, all of us said that bridges of culture would be the last one to explode. It appeared to be self-evident. However, it turned out they are practically the first ones to explode. This is the cancellation of culture, and not merely the Russian one, but the mutual cancellation of different culture. Currently, as it has already been noted many times, we are likely to defend the footing of these bridges in order to restore them later," the expert said.

The time has come to understand whether cultural bridges are needed as a matter of principle, Piotrovsky noted. "The sovereignty of culture is very often mentioned at present. Many people say they do not actually need the others’ culture. It is said the own culture should be safeguarded and intrusion of other cultures into it should be prevented. So, another matter will be raised at the forum - are the cultural bridges so needed indeed? Furthermore, in St. Petersburg, for example, bridges are raised and brought together depending on the situation. Probably, our cultural bridges should act under the same principle," he added.

The 9th St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum will be held on November 16-18 after a three-year hiatus. It will be held at several venues across Russia’s "Northern Capital," including the world-renowned State Hermitage Museum, the General Staff Building, the Russian Museum of Ethnography and the St. Petersburg State Academic Capella. TASS is serving as the Forum’s general information partner.