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.”
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