On 31 January 2013, the Auction House of the Russian Federation (AHR) held a charity auction as part of the annual Petersburg Christmas Market. The money raised will go towards medical assistance for orphans.

The auction featured paintings by renowned politicians, athletes and performers working with famous Petersburg artists. All the paintings – 21 works of art – were united by a common theme, “Wonders of Petersburg”.

The total price of the paintings came to 1.05 million rubles, and the Auction House of the Russian Federation made a total of 2.51 million rubles from them. The lot with the highest price was the painting “The Alexandrinsky Theater”, by Mariinsky Theater ballerina Anastasia Kolegova and Aron Zinshtein, honored artist of the Russian Federation and member of the Russian Artists’ Union. The price of this work reached 500,000 rubles! The painting “St. Isaac’s Cathedral” by director Alexander Igudin, designer Alina German and the artists Vladimir and Vera Likhachev, members of the Artists’ Union, was sold for 300,000 rubles.

All the money raised at the auction went to the Christmas Market charitable fund, and will be used for medical assistance for children in need of expensive treatment. Furthermore, part of the money went to support the “Sisterly Care” project (which provides rehabilitation assistance for children being treated in hospitals)

 “The Auction House of the Russian Federation has a mission: to revive the tradition of auctions in Russia, and so also the tradition of charitable auctions. We thank the organizers of the Fair for giving us the opportunity to hold a charitable auction, and we are glad to use our experience as an effective seller in helping children.” Vladimir Pilyushin, head of the department for antiques and works of art.

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This year the Auction House of the Russian Federation held its third charitable auction.

The first charitable auction to commemorate the 65th of the victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War was held in 2010. Various art works from private collections were displayed, which were dedicated to military themes. All of the funds raised from the auction were sent to the “Victory” public foundation (which provides assistance to veterans), which finances the gubernatorial program “Duty”.

In 2011, the second charitable auction was held together with the foundation “One Step Ahead” (which provides support for people in difficult life situations) and the Grand Hotel Europe. The participants were offered works by children with disabilities, works by orphans and various items presented by celebrities: the fashion designer Valentin Yudashkin (a sketch from his “haute couture” collection), the goalkeeper of the Russian national football team and the Zenit team Vyacheslav Malafeev (goalkeeper’s gloves) etc. The funds raised were spent on rehabilitation and organizing summer holidays for child patients of the oncology and hematology department of City Hospital  № 31, Children’s City Hospital №1 and the Oncology Research Institute.