Hermitage robbery

read also MORE than 220 objects worth an estimated $100 million (£50 million) have been 
stolen from the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg  

Last news: 4 suspects Hermitage Theft arrested at this moment

Third Person Detained For Hermitage Theft 

Home Hermitage Heist an Inside Job

Museum employees suspected in disappearance of exhibits worth $5 million

found at kommersant.comAug. 01, 2006

Jewelry with a total value of more than $5 million has disappeared from the repositories of the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. The loss was discovered yesterday during an internal audit. The statement issued by the museum concerning the situation indicates that museum employees were likely involved in the disappearance of the pieces. A criminal investigation is underway. 
The Hermitage press service reported that 221 pieces were missing from the repository where Russian jewelry is kept. Most of the pieces were cloisonnй dating from the 15th to 18th centuries. The museum itself is calling the disappearance a robbery, but museum spokesmen are not specifying exactly what pieces are missing or how just a theft was possible. A more complete statement by museum director Mikhail Piotrovsky is expected today. 

“Russian enamel is unique in the history of art,” St. Petersburg collector Andrey Ananov told Kommersant. “In the West, cloisonnй has been known for no more than 200 years, but it has been produced in Russia since the 15th century. There was a rich collection of enamel in the Hermitage – icon settings, baskets, cups.”

read also MORE than 220 objects worth an estimated $100 million (£50 million) have been 
stolen from the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg