PUSHKIN MUSEUM, Priam's Treasure Room 7

The Museum of Fine Arts originally focused on the classical arts and most of its exhibits were ancient artifacts. The collection of antiquities currently includes more than 37,000 pieces including over 300 sculptures, 2,500 painted boats, more than 1,300 bronze artifacts and about 1,000 glass objects.

The highlight is undoubtedly Priam's Treasure, which consists of a series of objects found by the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann, who discovered ancient Troy in present-day Turkey. According to Schliemann, he found the treasure that he attributes to the Trojan king Priam, mentioned in Homer's Illiad, while he was digging in search of the city.

In reality, all of the objects actually date to the first half of the third millennium BC, i.e. at least 1,500 years before the Trojan War, but the name that Schliemann gave to the treasure has not changed.

The archaeologist's "booty" initially included thousands of gold, silver, copper and bronze artifacts, most of which have disappeared, and the precious artifacts that you can see today are linked to a series of thefts....