[MSN] Russia's Hermitage puts stolen artworks on display

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Russia's Hermitage puts stolen artworks on display
Thu Dec 7, 2006 6:42 PM GMT
 
By Denis Pinchuk

ST PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) - Russia's Hermitage Museum is renowned for
its works by Leonardo da Vinci and Claude Monet but on Thursday it put on
display artefacts that not long ago had been languishing in rubbish bins.

The 31 pieces in the exhibition are what detectives have recovered from a
collection of enamel and silver artefacts that was stolen from the
Hermitage. An anonymous tip off led police to one item, a jewel-encrusted
icon, in a rubbish bin.

Entitled "Return", the exhibition is the museum's attempt to put behind it
one of the most embarrassing episodes in its long history and to encourage
antiques dealers and members of the public to hand in items still missing.



"We want to show everyone what has been returned," said Hermitage director
Mikhail Piotrovsky, whose museum has been rocked by a crime which, police
believe, may have been committed with inside help.

"I brought antiques dealers here and showed them and I think that will help
to track down the other items. This is what is called 'Glasnost'
(openness)," he said.

The theft of the items is believed to have happened over several years but
was only discovered this year when staff carried out an audit of one of the
vast museum's archives.

Larisa Zavadskaya, the curator of the section where the thefts were found,
died suddenly at work when the audit began. Zavadskaya's husband has been
charged with theft.

The theft from one of Russia's most prestigious cultural institutions
induced a bout of national soul-searching, with some commentators blaming
government neglect and others a decline in moral standards since the end of
Communist rule.

President Vladimir Putin ordered a nationwide inventory of museums,
galleries and archives to find out if Russia's cultural heritage had been
pillaged elsewhere too.

Some 221 items went missing from the Hermitage and to date only 31 have been
returned. Some artworks were found in a left luggage locker at a station,
others were handed in by dealers.

"These are not now items from our collection but police evidence," said
Piotrovsky. "In three days the exhibition will close and they will be handed
back to the detectives for their investigation."


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