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19. 10. 12. - 14:00

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19. 10. 12. - 14:00

City rejects court ruling over lost Klimt and Schiele

An Austrian council has vowed to challenge a legal ruling to pay compensation after a museum it ran 'lost' three valuable paintings by Gustav Klimt und Egon Schiele.

The council for the southern city of Linz admitted that it had borrowed the paintings in 1951 from the then owner to put them on display at its Neuen Galerie (New Gallery) - which later became the Lentos Art Museum.

It included the Schiele watercolour painting "young boy" and the oil painting "Dead City", and the Klimt flooring entitled "Two people laying down".

When the owner asked for the paintings back - the only thing the museum could find was the contract confirming that it had borrowed them – but of the paintings the was no longer any trace to be found.

A court ordered that the council is responsible for the loss and should pay compensation but the council has now said it plans to challenge the decision.

Linz deputy Mayor Erich Watzl (ÖVP), responsible for cultural matters, confirmed that councillors have voted to fight the ruling.

The heirs however believe they have a cast iron case in a copy of the contract for the paintings that was signed by the Neuen Galerie director at the time Walter Kasten, and they were provided by the art collector Wolfgang Gurlitt.

His heirs are demanding compensation of 6.25 million euros.

The city council is also claiming that the paintings are not worth as much as the heirs want and in addition say that one of the three paintings may not have been an original.

Austrian Times

Airpower air show damaging the environment, says Green Party
The 2013 Airpower air show due to take place later this month in Aichfeld (Styria, Murtal district) has come in for criticism from environmentalists.

Whats on at the Haydn cinema this week (20 – 26 June)
The following films are on at the English language Haydn Cinema on the Mariahilferstrasse between June 20 and 26.

Elton John - Vienna concert tonight
Elton John is performing at the Stadthalle this evening.

Bathing ban remains on Donauinsel
Swimmers looking to escape the heat wave have been warned to avoid the Donauinsel because of possible infection.

Emergency doctors and security at the Donauinselfest
Security and emergency services will be working around the clock at the 30th Donauinselfest in Vienna this weekend as 200 acts take to the stage.

Better road security for the elderly
A two-day conference on "mobility and road safety in an ageing society" which kicks off tomorrow at the Palais Ferstel (Vienna) will look for measures to improve the security of road users over 60 years of age.

Electro-bike battery causes fire
Over 100 firemen were called out to battle a blaze when an Elctro-bike battery caused a garage to burst into flames in the middle of three houses in Rauris (Pinzgau, Salzburg region).

Hungarian/Croatian: new course material
Over 5,000 Burgenland school pupils studying Hungarian and Croatian will get new course materials from September.

Heat causes damage to the West motorway
High temperatures have caused damage to the A1 "Westautobahn" motorway from Lower-Austria to Vienna.

Red Light Process starts again in Vienna
The so-called "Red Light Process" is being continued in the regional court in Vienna today.

Don't moan alone, the Ombudsman Investigates.

Why suffer in silence. Let off steam by letting our readers share your troubles. File your complaints about anything and everything here.

Our ombudsman David Rogers will try and help solve some of the problems from lazy civil servants through to incompetent companies – and at the very least the worst transgressors will end up in our weekly special report.