Hermitage Volunteer Service Hermitage Volunteer Service The Hermitage Volunteer Service of the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia is an organisation of volunteers that unites foreign and Russian students with the goal of providing assistance to this world-renowned museum. The program aids the Hermitage with its external and internal activities and functions as an informal link between the museum staff and the public, making the knowledge of the museum’s experts accessible to the general community. Volunteers also develop projects reflecting their own personal goals and interests in connection with the museum. The mission statement of the Hermitage Volunteer Service is "Fostering a
Hermitage Museum art: "Venus disarming Mars" by Rubens was once in the collection of the Rheinsberg Palace in Berlin, and was apparently looted by Soviet troops from the Königsberg Castle in East Prussia in 1945. At the time, Mikhail Piotrovsky said the painting would be cleaned and displayed. The museum announced in July 2006, that 221 minor items, including jewelry, Orthodox icons, silverware and richly enameled objects, had been stolen. The value of the stolen items was estimated to be approximately $543,000 but by the end of 2006 several of the stolen items were recovered. In recent years, the Hermitage launched several