Swiss museum will take hidden trove of 1000 artworks stolen by Nazis Treasure trove ... a painting from Max Liebermann, "Two Riders on the Beach," was one of the looted artworks discovered in the apartment of Cornelius Gurlitt during a tax inspection in 2012. A SWISS museum will accept a German recluse's bequest of a spectacular trove of more than 1000 artworks hoarded from the Nazi era. The decision, announced at a press conference in Berlin, covers priceless paintings and sketches by Picasso, Monet, Chagall and other masters that were discovered by chance in 2012 in the Munich flat of Cornelius Gurlitt. Christoph Schaeublin, president of the Board of Trustees at the Museum of Fine Arts in Bern, pledged to work with German authorities to ensure that "all looted art in the collection is returned" to its rightful owners. Gurlitt, who died last May aged 81, was the son of an art dealer tasked by Adolf Hitler to help plunder great works from museums and Jewish collectors, many of whom perished in the gas chambers. The Museum of Fine Arts in Bern, which has agreed to accept a German recluse's bequest of a spectacular trove of stolen Nazi artworks, including priceless paintings and sketches by Picasso, Monet, Chagall and other masters. In the course of a routine tax inquiry, 1280 works were unearthed in Gurlitt's cluttered Munich flat. More than 300 other works were discovered in a ramshackle home Gurlitt owned in Salzburg. Although he was never charged with a crime, the German authorities confiscated all of the Munich pieces and stored them in a secret location. Gurlitt struck an accord with the German government shortly before his death to help track down the paintings" rightful owners. But his anger over his treatment reportedly led him to stipulate in his will that the collection should go not to a German museum but to the Swiss institution. After six months of negotiations, German Culture Minister Monika Gruetters called the accord reached with the Bern museum "a milestone in coming to terms with our history" under the Third Reich. Priceless collection ... art historian Meike Hoffmann speaks to the media after the seizure of paintings from Cornelius Gurlitt. She said the German government was committed to returning the looted works to Jewish descendants "as soon as possible, with no ifs, ands or buts." But "we're at the beginning, not the end, of a long road," she admitted. Had the Swiss museum unexpectedly turned down the offer, the pieces would have been divided up among relatives of Gurlitt, who never married and had no children. Ronald Lauder, the head of the World Jewish Congress, declined to comment ahead of Monday's press conference. Plunder ... a death card which shows art trader Hildebrand Gurlitt, the father of Cornelius Gurlitt. Hildebrand was tasked by Hitler to help steal artworks from museums and Jewish collectors. But he told German news weekly Der Spiegel this month that the Swiss museum should not accept the inheritance, saying it "would open a Pandora's box and cause an avalanche of lawsuits." Underlining the point, one of Gurlitt's cousins, 86-year-old Uta Werner, said on Friday she was contesting Gurlitt's fitness of mind when he wrote the will naming the Bern museum as his sole heir. This could return the case to legal limbo, with ageing Jewish descendants left to fight for their claims in German courts for years to come.