Russian nun crosses herself during a ceremony to turn over more than 250 Orthodox icons smuggled out of Russia and returned by the U.S. and Italian authorities. The ceremony took place in the Svyato-Danilovsky Monastery in Moscow, October 31, 2003.
Photo: Alexey Kudenko
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Saints Handed Over to Police
// Collectors get rid of Hermitage property
One of the most valuable items ever stolen from the Russian Museum Fund was returned to the Hermitage yesterday. Unknown parties placed the Icon of the Assembly of All Saints, estimated by the police to be worth $200,000, in a garbage bin outside the 9th criminal investigation division in St. Petersburg, which is investigating the recent robbery of the Hermitage.
“At about 12:00 in the day, an unknown man phoned the 9th criminal investigation division and reported that one of the museum items was in the garbage container in the courtyard of 21 Ryleev St.,” head of the criminal investigation police press service Valery Vekhov told Kommersant. “An investigation group went to that address and found the Icon of the Assembly of All saints in the bin, wrapped in three plastic bags. That icon is similar to one that disappeared from the Hermitage. In another bag, the mounting for the icon was found. It is decorated with precious stones. All the stones were in place and the icon is in good condition.” The icon has already been turned over to the Hermitage. Detectives do not doubt its authenticity. It matches the description of the Icon of the Assembly of All Saints that was published on the Hermitage's website yesterday. The icon was not insured. It was considered one of the most valuable of the 221 items that are known to have disappeared from the Hermitage.
Police think that the return of the icon happened thanks to the fact that the Hermitage published a list of its missing items and St. Petersburg criminal investigation chief Sergey Strelin made a public appeal for the assistance in locating the items. The anonymous caller used the telephone number that Strelin publicized. One detective explained that collectors want to avoid problems with the police and, now that photographs of the stolen items are easily accessible, it will be impossible to sell them.
There is little doubt that museum employees are involved in the disappearance of the museum's items. With the exception of the keepers of individual repositories, permission is required from the curator of the museum and curator of the repository to receive access to the repositories from which the items disappeared. Records are kept of such visits and the repositories are sealed overnight. Until recently, there were four keepers of the Russian art repository. Most of the items that disappeared were under the care of Larisa Zavadskaya, who died last October at work at the age of 52. Her colleagues are convinced of her complete uprightness, however.
Andrey Tsyganov, St. Petersburg
All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 04, 2006
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