Hermitage Museum private mansions were nationalized and redistributed among major Soviet state museums. Particularly notable was the influx of old masters from the Catherine Palace, the Alexander Palace, the Stroganov Palace and the Yusupov Palace as well as from other palaces of Saint Petersburg and suburbs. In 1922, an important collection of 19th-century European paintings was transferred to the Hermitage from the Academy of Arts. In turn, in 1927 about 500 important paintings were transferred to the Central Museum of old Western art in Moscow at the insistence of the Soviet authorities. In the early 1930s, 70 more paintings were sent there.
Vilnius Guggenheim Hermitage Museum as having regained support, including that of the Vilnius mayor, Arturas Zuokas, even though the embezzlement inquiry was still ongoing. As envisioned in 2008, Vilnius Guggenheim Hermitage Museum would have presented exhibitions of new media art, parts of the New York City anthology film archive, and Fluxus art. The Fluxus art movement flourished in New York during the 1960s, and was led by Lithuanian-born artist Jurgis Mačiūnas. Another important part of the exhibition would have been a collection of works by Lithuanian avant-garde film maker Jonas Mekas. These works are currently held by the Jonas Mekas Visual Arts Center. Collections