Penza, 22 March 2017. PenzaNews. A solemn event dedicated to the 125th anniversary of the Penza K.A. Savitsky picture gallery was conducted on Wednesday, April 22.

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Before the official part, the director of the institution Kirill Zastorozhny held a short excursion for honorary guests after which everyone moved to the green hall.

Here the guests had a chance to see a theatre performance prepared by actors of the Penza Lunacharsky Regional Drama Theatre aimed to remind everyone about the history of the institution formation.

After that, the guests received another surprise.

They had a chance to see a recreated picture of the artist Ivan Makarov "Girls-sisters" depicting granddaughters of Alexander Puskin's widow Natalya Goncharova and her second husband Petr Lansky.

Then, the director of the picture gallery turned to the guests sharing the achieved results.

"This quarter we earned 200,000 rubles more than it was planned," he said adding that it shows people's interest to the gallery and to events conducted at its premises.

"In February we managed to increase workers' salary by 43% from 14,600 to 21,000 rubles. This fact lets me demand from the workers more. People get encouraged, as a result we achieve better results," he said thanking all visitors for their support.

In turn, the governor Ivan Belozertsev drew attention to an important social task that cultural institutions perform, and suggested changing the exposition more often.

"I think it will be better if you change the exposition using the exhibits you have in reserve. It should be done more often [...] so that people could see the pictures they did not see before. Let us do it," the head of the region said.

Ivan Belozertsev presented certificates of honour to Kirill Zastorozhny, the head of conservation for the picture gallery Nadezhda Tarkhova and the head of the museum of one picture Ekaterina Fokina.

In addition, an honorary diploma was presented to the head of the culture promotion department of the gallery Ekaterina Salnikova.

The chairman of the Legislative Assembly Valery Lidin also congratulated workers of the institution noting that the number of its visitors increased.

"This suggests that we have a good tradition of respect to history, works of our artists and the Penza region," he emphasized.

After that, the speaker of the regional parliament presented Kirill Zastorozhny with a vase with the coat of arms of the region.