Estonia Returns Dürer Painting to Germany

Ending a 60-year odyssey, Estonian Premier Juhan Parts on Friday returned the altar piece painting "St. John the Bapist" by German artist Albrecht Dürer to the Bremen Art Gallery, which houses one of the largest collections of Dürer's work in Germany. The museum also owns the painting's counterpart, "St. Onofrio." In 1945, the painting had been moved to a palace in eastern Germany where Soviet troops confiscated it. Officials at the Kadriog Art Museum in the Estonian capital Tallinn only discovered the painting in the museum's vaults last year. To thank Estonia for the painting's return, 85 Dürer drawings from Bremen have been loaned to the museum in Tallinn.