The list of masterpieces that can be used by mobile phones users is long, "from Scythian gold to classics," Hermitage director Mikhail Piotrovsky was quoted as saying.

Downloads of single images will cost $1, while images with accompanying texts will go for $2.5, the agency quoted a project organizer as saying.

Aside from generating revenues, Piotrovsky said the goal was to refine the art tastes of young people and make the museum's collection "more accessible."

The head of the ethno psychology department of Moscow State University, Alexei Nagovitsin, told Interfax "one must not be afraid of new ways of spreading culture - telephones, computer games.

"The state and culture itself will only gain by this project," Nagovitsin said. "We must make culture fashionable and then the youth will reach out for it."

News source: www.times.spb.ru
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