Germany's Minister of Culture to Hand to Hermitage Museum Pictures Formerly Owned by Russia

Scheduled for today is the ceremony of handing over to the State Hermitage Museum of a number of pictures from the museums of the towns of Gatchina and Tsarskoye Selo displaced during the Second World War, then long-kept in Germany.

The pictures in question include a portrait of the Emperor Alexander I and a number of battle scenes, expectedly 7 to 10 in all. The Ministers of Culture of the two countries will attend the ceremony.

Also today, at the State Hermitage an official presentation of the Black Square picture by Kasimir Malevich will take place. Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage said the presentation would be attended by Vladimir Potanin, President of the Interros holding company that purchased the picture at an auction and donated it to the Hermitage. The exhibit will contain the single picture by Malevich, the Black Square, despite the earlier announcement that a number of works of Vasily Kandinsky would also be displayed.