Austria will get back the priceless collection of nearly 1,000 ancient books as Russia has agreed to return them to Austria the Esterhazy Library. Russia on Monday officially agreed to return the ancient books that were seized by Soviet soldiers in 1945.

The officials from both the countries signed an accord in Vienna for the restitution by the end of the year. Currently, as many as 977 books are in Russian libraries.

Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger said at a news conference that these books hold significant cultural value for them. He said to be extremely happy to have these books returned to Esterhazy castle after 70 years.

The book collection originally belonged to the House of Esterhazy. It was a Hungarian noble family based in a place that is now known as eastern Austria.

A law on the return of the collection was signed by the Russian President Vladimir Putin in April. In 1945, one of the divisions of the Red Army brought part of the Esterhazy library from Austria to the USSR.

The collection of ancient books comprises unique 16th and 17th-century editions on theology, astronomy, history, philosophy, and medicine. The books are written in English, Arabic, Latin and German.