The Russian Academy Of Arts

On March 1, 2009 at the handover ceremony in the city of Bari,  the President of the Republic of Italy Giorgio Napolitano presented  Russian President Dmitry Medvedev with symbolic keys of the complex of the Russian Orthodox Church community in Bari including the Russian Orthodox Church of St. Nicholas the Wonder Worker and a number of residential buildings.
 
The Russian Orthodox Church dedicated to St. Nicholas was built in Bari  in 1913 through Russian donations to welcome Russian pilgrims who came to the city to visit the 11th century Basilica of St. Nicholas where the relics of the saint remain.  The Church was later acquired by Bari City Council.  The former President Vladimir Putin made an official request for its return in March 2007 during his Italo-Russian summit in Bari.

In 2003, on the foreground of the old Basilica of St. Nicholas in Bari was installed a monument to St. Nicholas the Wonder Worker designed by Zurab Tsereteli, President of the Russian Academy of Arts.  

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