Thousands of colour photographs of art treasures, commissioned by Hitler at the height of World War II, have been published on the internet (all photos courtesy of the Zentralinstitut fur Kunstgeschichte).

As the Allies bombarded Germany, Hitler ordered photos to be taken of the greatest artworks before they were lost forever. Many were subsequently destroyed.

The works were selected by experts, then photographers fanned out across Germany, Austria, Poland, Russia and Czechoslovakia.

Photographs were taken in churches, monasteries, convents, palaces and other important buildings.

The photographers, working between 1943 and 1945, used the most up to date technology available to take more than 60,000 photographs.

The images were taken on slides using Agfacolour, an innovation of the Nazi era, but after six decades the colour was beginning to fade.

The slides were passed to the Central Institute for Art History in Munich and the Marburg Photographic Archive, and in 2002 the archivists began to digitize the pictures.

About 60% of the church art shown has been lost forever, including this cherub from a convent church in Lehen.

Secular buildings fared no better. This fresco by Friedrich Geselchap, entitled The War, had adorned the Hall of Fame in Berlin's Zeughaus until it was destroyed by bombs.

It is hoped that the quality of the photos will allow paintings, like this 18th century fresco showing Thurn and Taxis in an allegory on fame from Frankfurt, to be recreated.