On the orders of President Vladimir Putin, a replica of the Amber Room was finished last year at the restored Catherine Palace in St Petersburg.
Posted on 02/27/2005 2:03:19 AM PST by LibWhacker
MOSCOW (AP) - A legendary collection of gold objects from ancient Troy seized by Soviet troops in Berlin in 1945 should become Russian government property, a top Russian cultural official said in remarks published Saturday.
But Anatoly Vilkov, deputy chief of the Russian agency that preserves the nation's cultural legacy, stopped short of ruling out the objects' return, as quoted by the newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets.
The gold collection - excavated by amateur German archaeologist Hermann Schliemann - will be made federal property after it is inventoried, he said. It could be exhibited in Germany but only if its return is guaranteed, he said.
"In line with the law on transferred valuables, everything that the Soviet Union took as compensation, which includes Schliemann's gold as well, is not subject to return," Vilkov said. "All these valuables should become our federal property."
Schliemann discovered the Trojan Gold, also known as King Priam's Treasure, in 1873 in what is now northwestern Turkey. He believed the gold belonged to Priam, king of Troy, the city featured in Homer's epic, The Iliad.
Experts later determined that the hoard dated back to the Bronze Age about 2500 B.C., long before Homer.
Russia and Germany have long sparred over the fate of the collection, as well as thousands of other valuables taken from Germany as World War II drew to an end. Vilkov told a news conference earlier this month that Russia holds some 249,000 art objects, more than 260,000 archive files and 1.25 million books and publications.
Germany and other countries have pressed for the return of the collections, which they argue were taken illegally.
A 2000 Russian law distinguishes between illegal trophies - taken without a military commander's sanction - and those Moscow sees as restitution for the 27 million Soviet lives lost, 100 museums destroyed and utter ruin of entire cities during the conflict it calls the Great Patriotic War.
What's with these people? The treasures of Troy belong to Turkey, from whence they were purloined by Schleimann.
The Turks are so dismayed by ongoing vandalism of ancient sites that the Turkish Army guards all of them, complete with tanks. Not exactly a welcoming sight, but understandable considering the fortune in ancient artifacts that have been stolen.
Sorry about the title. It exceeded the 100 character limit, so I cut out a couple of occurrences of 'to.' Really mangled it. :-(
"A legendary collection of gold objects from ancient Troy seized by Soviet troops in Berlin in 1945 should become Russian government property"
It's the least they could do, what with making the Soviet POWs eat each other in camps and everything.
I'd keep the Trojan gold too..
What whiners. The Germans lost it fair and square. Next thing you know they'll be crying that they be given the Sudetenland back.
Losers Weepers, Looters Keepers!
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"It's the least they could do, what with making the Soviet POWs eat each other in camps and everything."
Don't ask, don't tell. ;')
By that logic the Turks should return the whole country to the indigenous peoples and go home. Nothing in the entire country is Turkish heritage.
The Schleimann gold was/is the largest singe 'find' of gold ever.
Maybe the Russians would trade Schleimann's gold for the missing Amber Room? ;o)
What a mystery, huh?
I've read that a replica of the original has been made.
On the orders of President Vladimir Putin, a replica of the Amber Room was finished last year at the restored Catherine Palace in St Petersburg.
Hell no... I think the Greeks should get it, it's theirs by right of conquest.
If right of conquest counts, then Russia can keep the stuff...or it can be shipped to the Reagan library in California. "Tear down that wooden horse, Mr. Gorbachev."
The replica is beautiful!
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