Built without a single nail, the Church of the Transfiguration of the Saviour will have to be taken apart in order to save it

He ordered the governor of Novgorod to make builders wait until archaeologists had finished excavating

Alexander Sokolov does not seem interested in returning looted art

A legal loophole may enable the restitution to Germany of a collection taken to the USSR by a Soviet army officer in 1945

Unlike the heirs of Nazi victims, the descendants of collectors whose art was appropriated by the Bolsheviks are unlikely to have it returned

A French plaintiff says he deserves a percentage of exhibition ticket sales at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art because the works on display were taken from his grandfather after the Russian Revolution

The journey of the painting has ended

Published accounts show that in 2000 the Hermitage raised 65% of its budget

The dispute revolves around the work 'Improvisation No.10'

A medieval stained-glass window to return to Frankfurt-an-der-Oder, while Germany will pay for the rebuilding of a 14th-century church in the Pskov region

Christie’s and Sotheby’s to help with provenance research projects

Museum bought works after artist abandoned them in Berlin

Constitutional court decides in favour of nationalists’ bill

The director of the Hermitage, Mikhail Piotrovsky, outlines the possible implications for his museum of the NATO campaign

Unlike Venice, St Petersburg is building a flood barrier, but needs more money

British architect, Christopher Seddon, is the project manager

Russian parliament voted last month to override President Yeltsin’s veto, putting him in a precarious political position

Watercolours and drawings seized by the Red Army in a Berlin bunker in 1945 have been on show in the Hermitage earlier this year for the first time

But negotiations continue between Chancellor Kohl and President Yeltsin

Drawings believed lost go on display in “Masterpieces of Western European Drawing"

This is in marked contrast to Russia’s tough line against any restitution of works of art taken from Nazi Germany

Leading museum directors pessimistic

Dube reacts angrily to Russian delays over restitution and responds to the opposition of Irina Antonova, veteran director of the Pushkin Museum

More roadblocks further slow the process

Russia’s Deputy Culture Minister speaks about the need to establish a new cultural identity in the new Russia

But the process has stalled as far as large-scale restitution between Russia and Germany is concerned

Even after treaties have been signed, legal wrangles between Germany and Russia persist

Rumours of a Sotheby’s valuation have encouraged talk of auction

The doyenne of the Russian museum profession, Irina Antonova, opposes returning “trophy” works of art

Customs at Moscow airport impound suitcases full of papers about the Avant-garde