MUNICH, Germany – Reclusive art collector Cornelius Gurlitt left his entire trove of works concealed for decades to the Kuntsmuseum in Bern, Switzerland, the museum said Wednesday. 
 
 Gurlitt, who died on Tuesday, hoarded more than 1,000 works believed to be lost in World War II or destroyed by the Nazi regime in his apartment and in a house outside Salzburg, Austria. The collection, which was amassed by Gurlitt's father, Hildebrand Gurlitt, includes paintings and drawings by Marc Chagall, Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse. 
 
 German tax authorities discovered the pieces in February 2012 in Gurlitt's apartment. 
 
 Gurlitt's lawyer Christoph Edel confirmed by telephone and in writing that Gurlitt had "appointed the private-law foundation Kuntsmuseum Bern his unrestricted and unfettered sole heir," the museum said in a statement. 
 
 The news "came like a bolt from the blue, since at no time has Mr. Gurlitt had any connection with Kuntsmuseum Bern," it said. 
 
 The Nazis had labeled the avant-garde artworks as “degenerate” and plundered them from museums or forced owners, many of them Jewish, to sell them for below their real prices. Hildebrand Gurlitt, an art dealer close to the Nazi regime, built up the collection that today rivals those of many of the world’s modern art museums. 
 
 His son then concealed them for decades. 
 
 CHRISTOF STACHE / AFP - Getty Images A picture shows the building in Munich's Schwabing district where hundreds of masterpieces thought to have been stolen by the Nazis were discovered in an apartment of Cornelius Gurlitt. 
 
 “[Cornelius Gurlitt's] heirs can decide how to proceed with the art work, but they will have to abide by the agreement that was reached,” Edel told NBC News earlier on Wednesday. 
 
 He was referring to a deal struck with government last month that established a task force to research the provenance of works suspected of having been stolen by the Nazis. A website has been set up for potential claimants to see the collection. 
 
 "[Gurlitt] is committed to the voluntary return of any looted art," German Culture Minister Monika Grütters said at the time. 
 
 The find of nearly 1,300 paintings and drawings last fall delighted the art world, but also brought doubt about the rightful ownership and restitution claims. 
 
 Matthias Henkel, director of communications for the task force appointed by the government, told NBC News that the experts were continuing in their fact-finding mission and acting on the assumption that whoever inherited the art would abide by the agreement. 
 
 “We also have a moral obligation to clarify the historical circumstances,” he said. 
 
 German media had reported earlier that Gurlitt wanted to pass the ownership of the artworks to “a foreign institution.” 
 
 He reportedly was upset with German authorities over the investigation and had contacts with art institutions in Austria and Switzerland, home to the Kuntsmuseum Bern. 
 
 First published May 7 2014, 5:49 AM ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption More than 1,400 works were found in Cornelius Gurlitt's Munich apartment 
 
 German Nazi-era art hoarder Cornelius Gurlitt, who died on Tuesday, has made the Bern Art Museum in Switzerland his "sole heir". 
 
 The reclusive son of Adolf Hitler's art dealer is estimated to have amassed a collection worth up to a billion euros. 
 
 The museum said the news struck "like a bolt from the blue", given that it had had no relationship with Mr Gurlitt. 
 
 The collection was the subject of a long legal dispute over works that may have been taken illegally by the Nazis. 
 
 Analysis The Bern Art Museum now gets ownership of the collection but lawyers for Cornelius Gurlitt indicated that paintings shown to be looted would be returned to the present-day heirs of the victims, an arrangement which still stands. There is no argument over works which were acquired by Mr Gurlitt's father before the Nazis came to power so they can go to Bern. But in between the two categories are hundreds of paintings which may be disputed. The authorities will give potential claimants a year to come forward. At the end of it all, the name Gurlitt may be remembered in some title like the Gurlitt Bequest at the museum in Bern. It would be a bland title belying a tragic human story. 
 
 The Bern Art Museum said that it was delighted at the news that it had been made Mr Gurlitt's "unrestricted and unfettered sole heir", but added that the bequest also posed some questions. 
 
 "The Board of Trustees and directors of Kunstmuseum Bern are surprised and delighted, but at the same time do not wish to conceal the fact that this magnificent bequest brings with it a considerable burden of responsibility and a wealth of questions of the most difficult and sensitive kind, and questions in particular of a legal and ethical nature", it said in a statement. 
 
 Mr Gurlitt's father, Hildebrand Gurlitt, was ordered to deal in works that had been seized from Jews, or which the Nazis considered "degenerate" and had removed from German museums. 
 
 The priceless collection was confiscated in 2012 by Bavarian authorities from the apartment of his son. 
 
 Image caption A beach scene by German impressionist Max Liebermann was one of the important discoveries 
 
 Image copyright AFP / CHRISTOF STACHE Image caption Matisse's Femme Assise is the subject of an ownership claim 
 
 Image caption The hoard of paintings includes Pierre-Auguste Renoir's Man Seated 
 
 After initially refusing to give up the paintings, Mr Gurlitt changed his position, agreeing to co-operate with the German authorities on establishing the paintings' provenance, and returning them if they were shown to be stolen. 
 
 'Wild speculation' 
 
 Mr Gurlitt, who had no close relatives, wrote the will within the last few weeks shortly before undergoing heart surgery, according to his spokesman, Stephan Holzinger. 
 
 "It now falls to the probate court to determine if the will is valid and whether a contract of inheritance exists," he told the BBC earlier on Wednesday. 
 
 "I can understand that there is now wild speculation, but I don't want to comment on that at this stage." 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The BBC's Stephen Evans was granted exclusive access to look at some of the long-lost masterpieces 
 
 The German government said earlier that the collector's death would not affect the investigation into ownerships claims on the paintings. 
 
 Mr Gurlitt's collection only came to light after a routine check found he was carrying wads of cash on a train from Switzerland, triggering a tax inquiry. 
 
 Investigators found more than 1,400 works in his flat in Munich in February 2012 - though they only revealed the discovery in late 2013 - and a further 60 in his house near Salzburg, Austria, earlier this year. 
 
 Among them were works by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, Emil Nolde and Max Liebermann. 
 
 The collection is estimated to be worth up to a billion euros (£850m; $1.35bn). 
 
 Under German law, Cornelius Gurlitt was not compelled to return any paintings because the incidents happened more than 30 years ago. ||||| Image copyright AFP Image caption Cornelius Gurlitt's Salzburg home has been secured against potential break-in and theft, reports say 
 
 Dozens more art works have emerged at the Austrian home of Cornelius Gurlitt, the German collector found in 2012 with hundreds of paintings believed stolen by the Nazis. 
 
 The latest finds in Salzburg include paintings by Renoir, Monet and Picasso. 
 
 A spokesman for Mr Gurlitt, who is in his 80s, said experts were examining the works to see if they were stolen during the Nazi era. 
 
 "After an initial assessment that suspicion is not confirmed," he said. 
 
 The spokesman, Stephan Holzinger, added that the paintings had been viewed on Monday. 
 
 More than 1,400 art works, estimated to be worth $1.35bn (£846m), were discovered in Mr Gurlitt's apartment in Munich in March 2012. But details of the find only came to light last year, apparently during a routine tax inspection. 
 
 Hundreds of the paintings were believed to have been looted by the Nazis. Mr Gurlitt's late father Hildebrand was an art dealer who sold paintings that had been confiscated or bought by the Nazis but kept many of the works himself. 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption Mr Gurlitt's spokesman said initial assessment suggested the works had not been stolen 
 
 Image copyright Reuters Image caption These previously unknown works by German artist Otto Dix were found in the Munich flat 
 
 A lawyer, Christoph Edel, who is acting as supervisor for Mr Gurlitt, has arranged for the works found at the collector's Salzburg home to be secured from any break-in or theft, German news agency DPA reports. 
 
 The state prosecutor in the German city of Augsburg who is handling the tax investigation in Munich had no comment to make on the latest revelations. 
 
 Officials in Austria told local media they had no knowledge of the case. "No warrant for a house search warrant has been ordered by us," a spokesman for the Salzburg public prosecutor told Austrian Press Agency. 
 
 The German authorities have been criticised for keeping the original discovery in Munich under wraps for more than 18 months. 
 
 Among the works found in 2012 were paintings either long thought lost or unknown, by Marc Chagall, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Otto Dix and Max Liebermann. 
 
 Mr Gurlitt, described as a recluse, told German website Spiegel last November that he had never done anything wrong and did not intend to give up the art collection, now in the hands of the German authorities. 
 
 His father had only ever bought paintings legally from museums and other art dealers, he insisted, and not from private individuals.
– German authorities have uncovered a third stash of artwork belonging to the late Cornelius Gurlitt, the son of a Nazi-era art dealer who died in May. An initial stash of paintings, worth $1.3 billion, was discovered in his home, followed by an even more significant hoard in Gurlitt's apartment. Now, investigators tell the AP they've found a few more works at the Munich residence, including "a sculpture that is probably by Edgar Degas and a marble sculpture that, after a first inspection, may be a work of the French artist Auguste Rodin," the task force said in a statement, per the AFP. The latest stash also includes "a small number" of other works, the statement said rather vaguely. The hoard was only discovered after Gurlitt's death, investigators said, though it isn't clear where exactly the works were hidden or why they weren't found at an earlier date. The head of the task force, however, promised "thorough research work and a transparent presentation of the new discovery" in the interest of "the victims of Nazi art theft as well as the heirs of Cornelius Gurlitt." The works will be photographed and their images published in the online inventory set up to help match the art to its rightful owners. Click for more on Gurlitt's fascinating story.