Roman Abramovich will turn to New Holland Arts Center

Roman Abramovich has spent 12 billion rubles for the purchase of an abandoned military base on the island of New Holland in the Admiralty district of St. Petersburg. Oligarch plans to transform the military stores of the XVIII century in the cultural and commercial center. The project will certainly provide space for art galleries and museum, including a platform for permanent placement of a private collection of the billionaire. Manage the cultural part of the project will be a friend of a businessman director of the Center for Contemporary Culture "Garage" Daria Zhukova. New Holland is the only man-made island in the delta of the Neva River, where in the XVIII century. It founded the first military port of Russia. In the XIX century. it housed the building of sea prison laboratory where he worked Dmitri Mendeleev, a swimming pool, where at the beginning of XX century. He carried out his experiments Russian Alexey Krylov Shipbuilding. More than a half century of years the public easy access to the island was closed. Roman Abramovich has loudly declared their cultural interests in 2008, when 24 hours in trading in New York spent 60 million. Pounds per art. First he spent £ 17 million. At the pictures of Lucian Freud, thus setting a sales record for works by living authors. The next evening he bought for £ 43 million. Triptych by Francis Bacon, putting two more records: the most expensive work of the artist and the most expensive work of contemporary art. About the true size of the private collection of Roman Abramovich can only guess, since most of the works they purchased anonymously. However, the authoritative magazine ARTnews including the Russian billionaire's top ten art collectors in the world.