A priceless collection of antique manuscripts and books that has been missing since Nazi troops looted it from the Shul in Rome may be languishing in an abandoned Soviet military archive.�

After leads from Italy to Germany, Poland, France, Ukraine and the US, researchers have secured an agreement with Russia to help to find the 7,000-volume library, which that dates back to the 16th century.

There is good reason to believe that the collection could be in a warehouse or other undocumented location, Dario Tedeschi, a lawyer who has been leading efforts on behalf of the Italian Government, said. Yesterday he described the decades-long hunt as �trying to unravel a historical mystery�.

The collection, known as the Library of the Jewish Communities, includes illuminated manuscripts, Seforim and Sifrei Torah printed in the 16th and 17th century.

(Times On-Line-UK)