ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — Workers restoring a 19th-century mansion in the Russian city of St. Petersburg have discovered a vast trove of silver and jewelry hidden in a secret compartment.
The Intarsia construction company said Friday that more than 1000 valuable pieces including silver dinner sets and porcelain were found this week in a previously undetected space between floors of the mansion.
Many of the items were wrapped in newspapers bearing dates from a few months before the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.
The mansion belonged the Naryshkin family, part of the Russian nobility. It was not immediately clear if the treasure was hidden in the wake of the revolution, when resentment against the nobility was high.
The company says the items will be given to a city museum.
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