How Russia sold off much of its cultural heritage following the revolution

How Russia sold off much of its cultural heritage following the revolution
25th March 2.15pm RH8 0DG
Lecture by Tom Flynn at Limpsfield Church Hall RH8 0DG starts at 2.15pm and repeated at 7.30pm Guests £10 on the door Refreshments beforehand Unlike the widely publicised looting of Jewish collections by the Nazis during the Second World War, the wholesale dispersal of Russia’s cultural heritage during the inter-war period is rarely discussed. This talk looks at the process by which the Russian Revolutionary authorities sold off vast quantities of their country’s valuable patrimony following the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 to raise valuable hard currency. Sometimes referred to as the conversion of “Treasures into Tractors,” the process effectively confiscated and sold off the contents of Russia’s churches, libraries, monasteries, museums and aristocratic private collections, thereby dispersing much of the country’s cultural treasures to the far corners of the world. Many nations took advantage of these sales between 1918 and 1938, most notably the USA where, with the help of the international art trade, many of the more important works went on to form the basis of the Washington National Gallery and the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon. What happened to all those Fabergé eggs and the imperial crown jewels, the Raphaels and Botticellies? This talk lifts the lid on the extraordinary events that unfolded after the Revolution.