Narva Museum extends director's contract for another 5 years
The supervisory board of the Narva Museum Foundation has extended Maria Smorževskihh-Smirnova's role as director for a new five-year term.
Board chair Krista Nelson confirmed to ERR's Russian-language portal that, according to the foundation's statutes, the board has the right to extend the contract of the current director without holding a new public competition, and this is what the board decided at the end of October.
Narva City Government's representatives on the board, Vladimir Žavoronkov and Marina Šurupova, proposed holding an open competition.
"I think that would have been more appropriate, and Maria Smorževskihh-Smirnova could have participated in the competition as well. I have no complaints about her work, although in my view the museum could pay more attention to the city's history," Šurupova commented.
Nelson said the proposal to hold a public competition was indeed made and discussed, but the majority decided to continue with the current director.
"In Narva's current political climate, finding a director is a very complicated process. We have held competitions before, and several of them have failed. Overall, we are very satisfied with the current director and want to continue working with her," she explained.
Smorževskihh-Smirnova has been sentenced to a decade in a penal colony for her work at the museum.
The director's salary will be raised once the new contract takes effect. "Of course, we cannot continue with the same salary for the next five years – this is standard practice across all state-funded museums," Nelson noted.
She added that the director's current salary is about €3,000 per month, while directors of other major regional museums earn between €4,500 and €5,500 per month.
Nelson highlighted that under Smorževskihh-Smirnova's leadership, several major projects have been completed: the western courtyard and tower have been renovated, the museum's roof was replaced, and the dispute over the convent building project was successfully resolved.
"That was a major undertaking. The museum has received additional funding and has become much more visible in Narva's cityscape," she added.
The main priorities in the near future are the renovation of the Narva Art Gallery, repairs to the convent building roof, and the opening of new exhibitions, including displays highlighting Kreenholm's industrial heritage.
Smorževskihh-Smirnova's new term will begin on February 1, 2026.
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Editor: Karin Koppel, Helen Wright
