The German state of Bavaria returned 14 cultural artifacts that had been illegally exported from Italy through acts of theft or smuggling. Their recovery is the result of a joint effort by Italian and German investigative authorities.
Among the hoard were a Corinthian bronze and several ancient ceramics, including a drinking vessel from the 6th century BCE. A priceless 2,500-year-old bowl bearing designs from Greek mythology that had been exported illegally has been rescued just before it went up for sale at a Munich auction house.
A particularly lavish 16th century Venetian jewelry box with wood inlays and animal bone carvings comes from the famous Embriachi workshop and was stolen from the Castello Sforzesco museum in Milan in 2006. It traveled to Germany via the United Kingdom and Belgium, and was eventually offered for sale before found by the Bavarian police.
Four Romano-Byzantine gold coins were also stolen in 2009 from the National Archaeological Museum of Parma. Guido Limmer, the vice-president of the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office, handed them over to the Roman authorities at an official ceremony yesterday.
“The fight against the illegal trade in cultural goods can only be successful together, at European and international level,” said German Culture Minister Claudia Roth. “Today’s return not only secures and preserves important cultural heritage, but also once again proves the effectiveness of the Cultural Property Protection Law.”
This important piece of legislation was very controversial when it passed in 2016, criminalizing the illegal import of cultural property to (and from) Germany. Indeed, art professionals, collectors and artists feared that obtaining an export license for works of art and artefacts would reduce their property rights and weaken the market for German art.
The law, however, allowed local authorities to further investigate the whereabouts of the stolen items and repatriate some 2,000 of these culturally significant objects to countries around the world, according to Monopoly.
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