A painting by Ivan Tišov that had hung for more than fifty years covered with draperies and forgotten on the side wall of the National Assembly's press centre, was today presented to the public at the Assembly.

The restoration of the monumental canvas entitled `The Return of King Aleksandar` was begun late last November by a team from the Department of Museum-Piece Restoration of the National Museum, led by Professor Jovan Pantic. According to Pantic, the painting was not severely damaged. Thick layers of dirt, varnish and paint used on the surrounding woodwork were cleaned; places where the canvas was noticeably deformed by plumbing on the wall were repaired. The experts decided against performing the extensive and risky operation of removing the canvas; it will be left to grace the room for which it was commissioned back in 1926.

Curator of the National Museum Ljubica Miljkovic said that the restored painting was the work of an unmistakable representative of academic monumentalism, the Osijek-born painter Ivan Tišov, born towards the end of the nineteenth century. The National Museum possesses two more large canvases by this somewhat forgotten artist, also monumental scenes dating back to the period of the creation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

Another picture remains hidden in the hall of the Serbian Assembly's Press Centre, on the front wall. It is still inaccessible, as it is covered by a curtain wall supporting the ventilation system in this part of the Assembly building.

Thanking the experts on a job excellently done, the Secretary of the National Assembly, Georgije Maric, drew attention to the existence of another historical painting by Tišov, larger than the restored one, on the neighbouring wall; it presents a substantial challenge.