Narva resisting handing over museum's Russian art collection to the state
The new coalition in the eastern border town of Narva is reluctant to hand over to the state a valuable Russian art collection held by the city's museum.
The most valuable part of the museum's exhibits is merchant Sergei Lavretsov's art collection, donated to the city a century ago.
The Lavretsov collection makes up a bit less than a tenth of the approximately 80,000 of artifacts Narva Museum has, but it includes valuable works by the likes of Russian painter Ivan Aivazovsky (1817-1900), and the city wishes to retain these items.
Attitudes vary among the coalition's leading members, however, and the issue has been dragging on for several years.
"Aktuaalne kaamera" reported the Ministry of Culture made a proposal to the City of Narva two months ago, to transfer the collection to the state, as a way of preserving cultural heritage.
Since then, a local election has taken place which saw a change in government; the new coalition says it fears the collection could meet the fate of the so-called Narva tank, a World War Two-era T-34 Soviet tank which used to be sited on a plinth just north of the city and which in 2023 was relocated to the national war museum.
"From Tallinn, they see this problem as if they're now going to turn Aivazovsky into their next tank. This is not the case. We simply don't understand why we have to grant you some very valuable gifts, then after that you get the opportunity to do whatever you want with them," Mihhail Stalnuhhin, Narva council chair, said.
The museum has stressed the objects will remain in their current locations after the transfer, however.
"I have not taken part in nor am I aware of any negotiations taking place anywhere to permanently remove the Narva city museum collection from the city," said head curator Zurab Jänes.
The foundation which oversees the museum has been operating for more than a decade, and was jointly set up by the City of Narva and the state.
All the museum's exhibits remain in the hands of the local government, however. Its unwillingness to hand over the items means the museum is not eligible to receive free conservation and restoration services, services needed to maintain such a valuable art collection.
"I renovate my own apartment myself, with my own money. No one pays for it for me — it's my property. It's exactly the same with the paintings," Stalnuhhin said on this.
Katri Raik, Narva's mayor, however, took a more conciliatory line. "With some of the assets it would certainly make sense to transfer them, as the city does not have the means to maintain or restore them. So there lies a drawn out and rather complicated process ahead," Raik said.
Raik returned as Narva mayor after last month's local elections, with her electoral list forming a coalition with Stalnuhhin's, with an overall majority of one seat.
Stalnuhhin was expelled from the Center Party in 2022, after referring then-prime minister Kaja Kallas (Reform) and others pressing on with the removal of Soviet-era monuments and other installations in Estonia as "Nazis."
The Narva Museum's director, Maria Smorževskihh-Smirnova, was in October sentenced in absentia by Russia to 10 years in a penal colony, after rebutting Russian propaganda and misinformation in the course of her work at the museum.
Her term as director was recently extended by five years, and she was awarded the Cross of Merit by the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for her contributions to defending European democratic values and countering Russian aggression.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Marko Tooming
Source: 'Aktuaalne kaamera'
