BBC NEWS | In Pictures | In pictures: Russian war booty

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Tuesday, 13 March 2007, 14:03 GMT

In pictures: Russian war booty

Ornate Merovingian gold artefact (Pushkin Museum)

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Treasures seized by Soviet forces in Germany at the end of World War II are on show in Moscow for the first time. Russia's possession of such art remains controversial.

Ancient rider sculpture/Pushkin Museum

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The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts is hosting the show, with help from state museums in Berlin. It runs until 13 May this year.

Stone horseman sculpture

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The artefacts are from the Merovingian dynasty of Frankish kings, who ruled a large area of Western Europe from the 5th to the 8th Centuries AD.

Merovingian gold artefacts (Pushkin Museum)

Merovingian gold artefacts (Pushkin Museum)

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The artefacts come from many parts of Europe, including Germany, the Baltic and Black Sea regions.

Gold Merovingian necklaces (Pushkin Museum)

Gold Merovingian necklaces (Pushkin Museum)

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These necklaces come from North Brabant, in what is now the Netherlands. The exhibition is called "The Merovingian era - Europe without Borders".

Merovingian gold clasp (Pushkin Museum)

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The treasures reveal the multi-ethnic influences characteristic of the Merovingian dynasty. (All but two pictures courtesy of Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts.)

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Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts
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