Antikvariat (russian: Антиквариат) was a Russian department of the Ministry of Trade set up by

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...

in 1921 following the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...

to handle the sale and export of art pieces acquired by the revolutionary government from Russian museums such as the Hermitage and Gatchina Palace, from Russian churches, and from Russian elites who either had been forced to surrender them to the new government, had fled the country without them, or were executed during the revolution. Among these state treasures were 30 of the 40 Fabergé eggs that had been held by the Moscow Armory following the abdication of the last Russian tsar,

Nicholas II Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Pola ...

. The new government of Russia began its existence in dire financial straits. Lenin and later Stalin needed money as quickly as possible, and the liquidation of Russian art works was believed to be one way to accomplish this. Antikvariat's members were not curators or art specialists but members of the Communist Party selected by other Party members to extract as much money as possible from the sale of Russian art to Western businessmen and diplomats. Russian art historians in charge of holding these works thwarted their attempts, and sometimes disguised or hid works that Antikvariat, had it known of their existence, would have preferred to have sold. For this, many of those passionate to retain these works were arrested, tried, and executed.

References

{{reflist Russian Revolution Foreign trade of the Soviet Union Art and cultural repatriation