The problem of returning of its cultural values which have been taken out from the country in days of the Second World War, remains rather actual.
Invaders took out cultural values not only from the state museums, archives and libraries.
After the end of war a quantity of the Russian cultural values has been found in special storehouses on the territory of Soviet and allied zones of occupation of Germany. Also cultural values from the USSR were found out in the castle Hohshtadt (earth Giessen), in the castle Kolmberg and Nojshvanshtajn (Bavaria), in Austria in the castle Kogl.
The experts investigating the problem of cultural values taken out from Soviet Union, recognise that storehouses of values in allied zones of occupation in the first peace days were repeatedly exposed to a robbery. Military divisions, protecting them, changed many times and weren’t responsible for safety of values.
The Soviet cultural values found out in Germany were brought to Berlin on warehouses of transport association "Derutra". From Berlin railway echelons sent them in the USSR in the Central storehouse in Tsarskoje Selo, in storehouses of Novgorod, Minsk and Kiev. There experts tried to find out their origin and returned in the culture establishments, where they had been taken out.
1,5 million units of cultural values returned to Soviet Union in the first post-war years.
Returning of domestic property to the mother land was not widely shined.
For the first time the question on the Russian cultural losses was put in the late eighties, the beginning of 90th years when in the Russian mass-media the information on the so-called trophy values which had been taken out by Soviet Union from Germany after the end of war, started to appear.
According to the number of the experts studying history of the export of cultural values from Soviet Union, today in the west it is improbable to find museum curiosities in culture establishments from Russia. Abroad more often stolen values are found out in private collections.
For last decades to Russia a number of the products which had been taken out to Germany during the Great Patriotic War both were found out in the state and private possession and were returned. They were returned in funds of the Russian museums in their origin place.
Among them: the water colour of the unknown artist of a XVII-th century "the Kind of Monrepo" (it is found out in the National museum of Vrotslav, Poland), is returned in the Pavlovsk palace-museum;
O. Kiprenskogo's picture "Portrait of artist Basina" is found in meeting of the American collector R. Lauder. It is gratuitously returned in the State Russian museum;
The picturesque cloth of Richi "Wedding ceremony of the tsar" is returned by the professor V. Ajhvede from Germany. The picture is transferred in the Ekaterina's palace according the accessory;
The icon "the Image of the Virgin Pskovo-Pokrovsk" (Vision of aged man Dorofeja) is returned from private possession in Germany to Russia. Nowadays it is at the patriarchate’s disposal;
The fragment of the Amber room (one of four mosaics) and a castle from the Amber room are found out in Germany in private possession in Bremen. They are returned in the Ekaterina's palace;
The bell from church in the city Old Rusa was in Luebeck (Germany). It is returned in Old Rusa.
It is necessary to recognise that few of lost is returned only, but it is necessary to understand also that circumstance that revealing of such values is a rather difficult process and in many respects a delicate problem. The edition of the Summary catalogue in which all data available today about the domestic cultural values lost in days of war, is collected and urged to help with their search and returning to Russia.
E.I. Kovrigin “Achilles near the body of Patroclus”(1840-1845 years.)
I.G. Droz “Icebreaker Yermak conducts convoy of ships through the ice of the Gulf of Finland. The left part of the triptych "Leningrad port" (1935)
Two paintings by I. Musheron "Architectural fantasies" (early XVIII century.).
Two paintings by F. Guardi "Fantastic urban landscapes "(mid XVIII century.).
