On April 4, 2019, an addition to the current cooperation agreement between the State Hermitage, Carl Zeiss Microscopy and OPTEC was signed at the State Hermitage. The subject of supplementing the trilateral agreement was the creation of a joint scientific and consulting reference center with participation in the international program ZEISS Labs @ Location, implemented on the basis of the Department of Scientific Restoration and Conservation of the State Hermitage.
The agreement was signed by Mikhail Piotrovsky, General Director of the State Hermitage; Nicholas von Korff, Managing Director of OPTEC GmbH; Renata Burgemeister, Project Director Labs @ Location, Carl Zeiss Microscopy.
The purpose of the Center is to educate and popularize the use of high-precision analytical methods both for restoration and examination, and for other areas. Exchange of experience with museums, laboratories, universities and research organizations working in Russia and abroad is envisaged; creation of joint publications on ongoing research; implementation of inter-museum research and restoration projects.
The Center will test and demonstrate modern research equipment provided by ZEISS and OPTEC. Currently, the ZEISS Merlin scanning electron microscope is being tested, which provides a magnification of one million times.