A look-alike address
Scammers register domains that differ by one letter or an extra word. Take the official website's address from a reliable source, not from an advert.
Museum websites (in Russian)
Safety
Safety
Scammers exploit an interest in art too: they copy museum websites and sell non-existent tickets and "authentic" reproductions. And your own exhibition photos, posted without a second thought, can sometimes reveal more about you than you would like.
A real museum does not rush you to pay or send a link to the "last tickets" in a private message.
How this section works: we describe general warning signs and principles. Specific rules on buying tickets and taking photos are set by each museum — check them on its official website.
Fake websites and shops
Fakes count on haste and on people's trust in the word "museum".
Offers that are too generous
"Today only" ticket discounts, "originals" for next to nothing and a countdown timer on the page are all reasons to stop and check the website.
No details about the organisation
A genuine institution's website gives its full legal name, address and official details. If they are missing or do not match, do not pay.
Museum websites (in Russian)
Images and rights
Mistakes with rights usually come not from bad intent but from haste.
Don't remove credits or marks
Removing the author's name, a watermark or rights information from a file may infringe the rights holder's rights. Use the image in the way you have been permitted to use it.
Respect photography rules
Museums ban photography or flash to protect objects and because of agreements with rights holders. Follow these rules rather than looking for loopholes.
Always credit the author
Even a public domain work should be credited: under Russian law, authorship and the author's name are protected indefinitely.
Personal data and photos on social media
A photo from an exhibition is also information about where you were and when.
Check the location tag
Many phones save the shooting location in the file. Before posting, turn this off or remove it from the metadata.
Ask the people in the shot
Before posting a photo of friends or other people's children in a gallery, ask their permission or choose a shot in which people cannot be recognised.
Don't post your tickets
An e-ticket may carry a barcode, your name and an order number. A photo of a ticket in your feed could let someone else use it instead of you.
See also
- Museum websites (in Russian)
The old address of the museum page: how to find an institution's real website and tell it apart from a fake.
- Guides
Practical guides: how to find, check, caption and lawfully use an image of an artwork. The article catalogue is here too.
- Questions
Answers about this reference, about images of artworks on the internet and the rights attached to them.
- Glossary
Terms in plain English: registering museum objects, resolution and colour accuracy, copyright and licences.
- Comparisons
Scan or photo, online collection or search result, open licence or public domain — a comparison of what really matters.
Sources
- Civil Code of the Russian Federation (arts. 1281, 1282)
- Russian Federal Law No. 54-FZ
Information on copyright terms, the public domain, open licences and the registration of museum objects was checked against the texts of the laws and the licence descriptions as of the date this page was prepared. The legal points refer to Russian law; terms and exceptions differ from country to country, so check the rules where you live. Online collections and image viewers work differently on different websites, so we describe them in general terms.