Ukrainian troops bring back from Kharkiv Oblast antique chair stolen decades ago from Lviv – photo
Ukrainian troops brought back the chair of Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytskyi to St George's Cathedral in Lviv on Wednesday 26 March. The relic had been considered lost for many years.
Source: Lviv Eparchy of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC)
Details: The antique chair was discovered at a local restorer’s workshop during the liberation of occupied areas in Sumy and Kharkiv oblasts near Russia’s Kursk Oblast. The craftsman stated that in the 1980s, Metropolitan Nikodim Rusnak of the Russian Orthodox Church had illegally taken it from Lviv. Before leaving the city in 1989, he took several items, including the chair.
"It became possible thanks, in part, to the efforts of our chaplain Yurii, who served in the 3rd International Legion. Together with his brothers-in-arms, he helped to recover the chair of Metropolitan Andrii Sheptytskyi," said Valerii Marchenko, senior pastor of the Gethsemane Protestant community.
Soldiers from the 3rd International Legion transported the chair to Lviv. The antique now requires restoration and efforts to recover the missing parts.
Lviv Metropolitan and Archbishop Ihor confirmed the authenticity of the item and its connection to Sheptytskyi. The diocese, in collaboration with historians and philanthropists, will now raise funds for its restoration. In the future, they plan to transfer the chair to the Metropolitan Andrii Sheptytskyi Museum.
How the Russians loot museums during the war
In early 2025, Kyiv Independent journalists identified a Russian officer and three Russian-appointed officials from occupied Crimea who were behind the illegal removal of collections from two museums in Kherson in autumn 2022.
As the Russians retreated from the Ukrainian counteroffensive, they looted more than 33,000 historical antiques and works of art from Kherson, making this robbery the largest museum theft in Europe since World War II.
To uncover those responsible, the journalists, often under the guise of a Russian TV producer or investigator, spent months interviewing Kherson defectors who assisted the Russians in smuggling the items out.
The investigation revealed that Russian officer Dmitry Lipov was tasked with securing the collections during their transport and personally sealed the trucks carrying the stolen items.
Sergei Patrushev, the Russian-appointed head of the Museum Department of the Ministry of Culture of Crimea, was responsible for overseeing the transportation of paintings from the Kherson Art Museum to occupied Crimea.
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