[MSN] Russia's Hermitage Museum, which announced a massive theft of valuable artifacts this summer, was once again the target of a robbery Friday.

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Hermitage targeted for theft, again
Last Updated: Friday, December 8, 2006 | 4:55 PM ET 
CBC Arts 
Russia's Hermitage Museum, which announced a massive theft of valuable
artifacts this summer, was once again the target of a robbery Friday.

Police have arrested a man who allegedly smashed a glass display case and
tried to steal an antique silver artifact from the St. Petersburg museum.
The worldwide media coverage of the earlier theft of more than 220 artifacts
has had an effect on the public's view of the venerable cultural
institution, museum director Mikhail Piotrovsky said in comments broadcast
on Russian television.

Piotrovsky suggested that with so many articles written about how easily
items were stolen from the Hermitage, certain people are prompted to really
try to steal something.

According to a statement from the museum, the suspect tried to break the
glass with his elbow, and then his knee. However, he triggered a museum
alarm and was detained by security and other staff. He was eventually turned
over to police.

Museum holds massive art collection

The Hermitage is renowned for having one of the world's largest collections
of fine art and cultural artifacts, including an estimated three million
objects, 90 per cent of which are usually in storage.

This summer, the theft from the Hermitage in St. Petersburg and a subsequent
one from an archive in Moscow caused a public furor over lax security and
poor funding of the nation's museums and cultural institutions.

In late July, officials announced that a routine inventory check had
discovered 221 items - including religious icons, jewelry and silver pieces
- had been stolen.

A curator, who died suddenly in October 2005, has been identified as the
primary source of the thefts. Three people, including the late curator's
husband and son, have been charged with the robberies, which took place over
several years.

The Hermitage published a detailed list of each missing item and about two
dozen of them were returned - anonymously sent to police, left in public
places or brought forward by antique collectors and dealers who bought the
pieces with no idea that they had been stolen.

The massive theft - and a subsequent one of architectural drawings from a
state archive in Moscow - highlighted the difficult financial situation of
many Russian cultural institutions. The public uproar over the incidents
prompted Russian President Vladimir Putin to order a countrywide inventory
of all museums.

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