MOSCOW, December 20 (RIA Novosti) - A painting believed to have been stolen from St. Petersburg's Hermitage Museum five years ago was presented Wednesday to the leader of Russia's Communist Party.
A stranger called Gennady Zyuganov's office in the headquarters of parliament's lower house in the morning, saying he would like to give the picture to the Communist leader, a party spokesmen said.
"Once the canvas was brought in, we began searching for information about the painting, and eventually came across an official statement by the Hermitage administration saying that an unidentified person had cut Jean Leon Gerome's 'Piscine du Harem' ['Harem Pool'] out of its frame on March 22, 2001," Zyuganov said.
"It had been cut into four pieces, and at first we thought it was a photo. We even thought it was a hoax," he said.
The 1878 picture, measuring 73.2 x 62 cm, was bought into Russia by Emperor Alexander III, and its value is estimated at $1 million.
Zyuganov said a group of experts from the federal media and cultural heritage agency believe the picture is almost certainly authentic.
Specialists from the agency have put the painting in special storage, where they are continuing to work on the canvas. Although the painting is in a terrible condition, it can still be restored, he said.
"I've been told that the painting can be restored. There have been even worse situations," he said.
More than 200 works of art were discovered missing from the Hermitage, one of the world's richest and finest art collections, during an inspection in August. Inspectors said the missing items had presumably been stolen over a period of several years and that members of the staff may have been involved.
The mass theft uncovered at the Hermitage raised doubts over the reliability of Russian museums' security systems, prompting federal authorities to order checks nationwide.
