Missing: 50,000 Museum Pieces
Monday July 21, 2008
After hundreds of items, worth an estimated $5 million, were systematically stolen from Russia's famous Hermitage Museum in 2006, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an audit of the country's museums. Although not yet complete, the audit already shows that at least 50,000 pieces have gone missing from Russia's museums. Many of the missing items are medals, clothes, and weaponry, but a few works of art have also been lost. Some of these missing items might have been lost during moves but others have been pilfered by unknown culprits. The full report of the audit will be released next year.


Comments
Oh my god, how terrible! I hadn’t heard about this.
Now that’s corruption, when 50,000 museum pieces can just walk out the door during peace time.