There is nothing more boring than an inventory. And it's quite possible that there is nothing more terrible that such a boring activity informs you about the "disappearance" of 221 items. Especially if that inventory is made in one of the most important Museums of the world, and those 221 objects are works of Art from the 17 th , 18 th and 19 th Centuries valued in more than $5 million. And the story has a certain note of drama if these works are not insured, and if the main suspects of the robbery are the employers and security guards of the prestigious Museum.

So that's the sad reality in the Hermitage (or Ermitage) Museum of Saint Petersburg, a new scandal to add to a neverending list of robberies and incidents that includes the theft of a valuable Egyptian jar in 1994, the robbery of a never recovered Gérome painting in 2001, the attack with sulphuric acid against Rembrandt's Danae in 1985, and the fact that such an important Museum has not enough money to take out an insurance policy against robberies, or to put a simple security glass to protect its most valuable works of art. The Hermitage exhibits invaluable works of Art such as Leonardo da Vinci's Virgin Benois or the Madonna Litta , or the two Henri Matisse masterworks, The Music and The Dance