Updates on the State Hermitage Museum

Nikolai Zavadsky was sentenced yesterday to five years in prison and ordered to pay $283,000 in damages for his role in the theft of 77 objects from the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. He was the husband of the late Larisa Zavadskaya, a curator at the museum.

Last summer it was discovered that her Department of Russian Culture had suffered the loss of more than 200 objects. The curator, who was also said to have been involved in the thefts, died in October 2005 at her desk in the museum.

Zavadsky admitted his guilt in January, but "also blamed his late wife, stating that she was the mastermind behind the thefts," the St. Petersburg Times reported today.

Galina Stolyarova writes:

During the court case, Zavadsky maintained he was selling the stolen goods under pressure from his wife who had "a forceful personality."

Is there a "henpecked husband" defense?

According to the newspaper, only 31 of the missing items have been recovered. The Hermitage "has repeatedly appealed to collectors and antique shop owners, but the recovery process has...stalled. The fate of the other stolen artifacts remains unknown."

Steven Lee Myers, in today's NY Times, reports that the Hermitage's director, Mikhail Piotrovsky, "in an interview before Thursday's verdict, said the museum had already taken significant steps to improve its safeguards. These include additional doors and cameras in storage areas out of public view."

"Additional doors"---providing more escape routes? Maybe the editorial gremlins jumbled a sentence that should have read, "additional cameras focused on doors and storage areas out of public view." We can only hope.

On a more positive note, the Hermitage reports on its website that it has entered into a "protocol of intent" with Italy's Province of Ferrara, Municipality of Ferrara and Emilia-Romagna Region, "setting forth the conditions for preparing and implementing cooperation projects within the framework of a planned program that is tentatively called the Hermitage-Italy Research and Cultural Center."

Among other things, the proposed center may publish catalogues and foster research, exhibitions and professional training programs.

UPDATE ON THIS UPDATE: A faithful reader suggests an alternative (and probably correct) reading for "additional doors" in storage areas: "I guess they might mean doors with locks in areas that have openings (passageways). Doors are things that close openings." Point taken.