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Description
The Russian Ministry of Culture initiated the Internet Project 'Restitutsiya' in 2003. The aim of the project is to provide information about cultural property taken by German troops from the territory of the USSR, on the one hand, and about cultural property taken by the Soviet Trophy Brigades during and after the Second World War and now held in Russian museums, galleries and archives, on the other. The information is accessible on a homepage and structured according to three research subcategories. Comprehensive object information, including images, on cultural property removed from Russian institutions is available in both English and Russian. Comprehensive object information on looted artworks and books held in Russia as well as information on legal aspects of the restitution of cultural property which was moved to Russia is accessible in Russian only. For research in these categories a basic knowledge of Russian is necessary.

1. Anons/Announcement (in Russian only)
This section contains online documents on the laws and legal possibilities of restitution of looted cultural property held in Russia. Detailed information on the following restitution cases and decrees is accessible in Russian:

· 11 March 2001 - General decree on the restitution of cultural property transferred to Russia after the Second World War and which is now held on the territory of the Russian Federation

· 11 March 2001 - The following decrees are related to the foundation of an 'All-Russia council for cultural property transferred to Russia after the Second World War and now held on the territory of the Russian Federation':
http://www.lostart.ru/page102.php
http://www.lostart.ru/page103.php
http://www.lostart.ru/page104.php
http://www.lostart.ru/page105.php

· 5 June 2001 - Legal papers on the restitution of the General State Archives of the Netherlands which were stored in the Russian Military Archive in Moscow and returned to the Netherlands in 2002:
http://www.lostart.ru/page107.php
http://www.lostart.ru/page108.php (detailed list of the archival records)

· 22 August 2001 - General decree on the restitution of cultural property transferred to Russia after the Second World War and which is now held on the territory of the Russian Federation

· 7 December 2001 - Legal papers on the restitution of the General State Archives of Belgium which were stored in the Russian Military Archive in Moscow and returned to Belgium in 2002:
http://www.lostart.ru/page109.php
http://www.lostart.ru/page110.php

· 24 January 2002 - Announcement of the Government of the Russian Federation on displaced cultural property held on the territory of the Russian Federation

· 5 April 2002 - Legal papers on the restitution of the Marienkirche Stained Glass to Germany

· 16 December 2002 - Legal papers on the restitution of the General State Archives of the Netherlands which were stored in the Russian Military Archive in Moscow and returned to the Netherlands in 2002:

  http://www.lostart.ru/page113.php
http://www.lostart.ru/page114.php

· 4 July 2003 - Decree on the restitution of the archive of the Duchy of Luxembourg

· 15 November 2003 - Announcement of the Government of the Russian Federation on displaced cultural property held on the territory of the Russian Federation

· News and digital resources referring to the restitution of the Captain Baldin Collection are provided on http://www.lostart.ru/page1_1.php. The Soviet Trophy Brigades looted this Collection, consisting of 362 drawings and two paintings, from the depot of the Kunsthalle Bremen. After promising the return of the artworks to Bremen for 2003, Russian officials stopped the transfer, on the grounds that some legal issues were not fully clarified. A digitised version of the Collection is accessible at http://www.muar.ru/ve/2003/bremen/index.htm.

2. Utrachennye Tsennosti/Lost Values (in Russian and English)
The Ministry of Culture has published several catalogues listing artworks, books and archival records which were looted from Russian museums, libraries and archives during and after the Second World War. The catalogues have been digitised and are accessible under 'Utrachennye Tsennosti/ Lost Values':

· Catherine Palace Vol. 1

· Catherine Palace Vol. 2

· Pavlovsk Palace

· State Tretyakov Gallery

· State Russian Museum

· Lost Archives Funds

· Oryol Regional Museum Of Local Lore

· Lost Book Treasures

3. Peremeshchennye Tsennosti/ Moved Values ( in Russian only)
The category 'Peremeshchennye Tsennosti/ Moved Values' contains digitised information on cultural property looted from other European countries and brought to Russia by the Soviet Trophy Brigades during and after the Second World War. Online catalogues in Russian are available for objects held at the following museums, archives and libraries in Russia:

· Pushkin Museum, Moscow

· National Museum of History, Moscow

· State University of Voronezh, Voronezh

· M.I.Rudomino All-Russia State Library for Foreign Literature (VGBIL), Moscow

· Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg

· Russian State Library, Moscow

· National Scientific Museum of Architecture, Moscow

· State Museum of History of Architecture and Art, Pskov

· Donskaya Public State Library, Rostov-na-Donu

· Russian Archive of Early Acts (Rossiiskii Gosudarstvennyi Arkhiv Drevnikh Aktov, RGADA), Moscow

· Russian Public State Library of History, Moscow

· National Library of the Chuvachskoi Republic, Cheboksary

· State Museum of Pavlovsk, Pavlovsk

· All-Russia Artistic and Scientific Restoration Center I.E. Grabaria, Moscow

· State University of Kaliningrad, Kaliningrad

· Regional State Library of Nizhni Novgorod, Nizhni Novgorod

· National Library of Russia, St. Petersburg

· Regional State Library of Smolensk, Smolensk

· State Museum of Art, Nizhni Novgorod

Note: Some of the institutions above are still working on the digitalisation of their records.

Contact Information
Department for the Preservation of Cultural Valuables
Ministry of Culture
7, Kitaigorodskii Proesd
Moscow, 109074
Russia
Tel.: 007 095 928 5750
Email: lostart@mkrf.ru
<http://www.lostart.ru/>

Source
Restitution Internet Project
<http://www.lostart.ru/>, accessed 16 March 2004.

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