The first virtual Non-Fungible Token (NFT) artwork released by Russia's famed Hermitage Museum.
The first works of art at the NFT were three world-famous frescoes of Raphael's workshop and school from the Hermitage collection: Venus and Cupid on а Dolphins, Venus and Adonis and Venus Taking a Thorn.

Opening the presentation of the new project, Hermitage Museum Director Mikhail Piotrovsky said: "We in the Hermitage Museum are great fans of innovation. The next project is dedicated to using the latest technologies to develop the museum business and create absolutely unique products. For the tokens, we chose three frescoes of the Raphael school, which were being restored in the Hermitage. In the process, it turned out that these murals had been updated and remodeled to suit the tastes of subsequent eras. Late records concealed the remarkable frescoes of Raphael's pupils: now all of these have come to life, they are beautiful again. The intermediate states of the frescoes, which are only recorded during the stages of restoration and then disappear, are a remarkable story in themselves. This is the point of NFT - to make the unique, which was not and will no longer be the case. We will use this new legal, technological, and new art scheme to continue to create "Hermitage in the Clouds" - our backup. It will be visible from all corners of the world - through technologies for which there are no borders".
The token is issued in compliance with Russian legislation regulating digital financial assets, including copyrights, one of the complex regulatory issues for many NFT projects around the world.
The partner of the project is the first Russian tokenization platform Atomyze, which will take over the placement and turnover of digital financial assets created within the framework of the project.

Money from the sale of tokens will be used to restore new works from the Hermitage's collection.
Thus, token purchasers will have the opportunity not only to donate their funds to the preservation of the world's cultural heritage, but also to become the owners of the digitized rights to the product created during the restoration process. This is hardly the first "charity" token in the world that is not intended as an object of speculation, but to raise funds from patrons for the preservation of the world's cultural heritage.

Even though the new Hermitage token was issued in accordance with the requirements of Russian legislation, its purchasers in the future will be able to become foreign art connoisseurs.

In 2021 Hermitage Museum has opened Europe's first virtual NFT exhibition.