Presentation of the updated Odesa film "Judas' Kiss" is planned in Kyiv

The Odesa Museum of Western and Oriental Art has prepared a presentation of the restored painting by Italian artist Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio "The Taking of Christ into Custody," also known as "The Kiss of Judas."

According to the Suspilne media outlet, the presentation of the painting is scheduled for the St. Sophia of Kyiv Reserve, where the exhibition will be held.

The painting "The Taking of Christ into Custody," or "The Kiss of Judas," was restored after serious damage - the canvas was cut out of the frame and kept for years in a restoration center in Kyiv. After the presentation in the capital, the painting will be taken to Lithuania. There it will be shown in several museums of the Lithuanian National Museum, which has a network of branches in different cities. Italian experts will also join the exhibition projects and may contribute to the final study of the painting's authenticity.

At the beginning of the year, Victoria Nesterenko, a lawyer at the Odesa Museum of Western and Oriental Art, said that the court decision to return the painting to the Odesa Museum of Western and Oriental Art had entered into force.

The Caravaggio painting was stolen from the Odesa Museum of Western and Eastern Art in 2008. The museum claimed that its value exceeded one hundred million dollars.

In 2010, a group of thieves were detained in Berlin while trying to transfer the painting to an underground collector. About 20 possible accomplices in the theft were also arrested in Ukraine.

After that, the severely damaged painting by Caravaggio was returned to Ukraine, but it was not restored and left at the Kyiv Institute of Restoration as material evidence. The painting could not be touched while the judicial investigation was ongoing. According to the former director of the Odesa Museum of Western and Eastern Art, Volodymyr Ostrovsky, "the painting is just dying," and those responsible for the theft have not been punished.

Since 2010, the painting has been kept at the National Research and Restoration Center of Ukraine as material evidence. On April 20, the Podilskyi District Court of Kyiv granted the museum's request and allowed restoration work to begin on the painting.

Кирило Бойко