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ICONS TAKEN FROM CYPRUS IN 1975 TO BE RETURNED
The Toronto Star, Canada
September 18, 2013 Wednesday
Valued at $200,000, the 16th-century paintings portray the four
apostles
The Dutch government seized four icons looted from a monastery in
northern Cyprus and will hand them to Cypriot authorities Wednesday,
according to Walk of Truth, an organization that campaigns to preserve
cultural heritage.
The 16th-century icons portraying the four apostles, valued at about
$200,000, were taken from the medieval Antiphonitis monastery in 1975.
Legal efforts by the Church of Cyprus to recover the icons failed
in 2002 after seven years. A change in Dutch law in 2007 allowed the
government to seize the artworks, said Tasoula Hadjitofi, the founder
of Walk of Truth.
"We have heard that the icons will be delivered to Cypriot authorities
within 48 hours," Hadjitofi told delegates at a Sept. 16 conference
in the Hague. "The Netherlands should be congratulated for this."
The Cypriot government says that as many as 100 Greek Orthodox and
Armenian churches in northern Cyprus were looted or vandalized after
the 1974 Turkish invasion. It estimates that more than 15,000 icons
are missing. Some objects have been recovered in western Europe and
the United States.
The four looted icons of the saints were bought by an elderly Dutch
couple from an Armenian dealer who visited their Rotterdam home. When
the couple tried to auction the icons in the 1990s, employees of
Christie's International warned that they may have been stolen.
Litigation to recover them began in 1995.
A district court ruled that the Dutch purchaser bought the icons in
good faith and was therefore the rightful owner.
The Court of Appeals found that the claim was time-barred under
statutes of limitations in 2002, according to Rob Polak, the
Amsterdam-based lawyer who represented the Church of Cyprus in the
legal process.
Questions about the ruling were raised in the Dutch parliament, and
in 2007, the Cultural Property Originating From Occupied Territory
Act was passed.
The law bans the import and ownership of cultural property originating
from a territory that was occupied in an armed conflict after 1959,
and allows the Minister of Education, Culture and Science to seize any
such property. In cases where the owner is deemed to be a good-faith
buyer, he may receive compensation from the Dutch state.
The Toronto Star, Canada
September 18, 2013 Wednesday
Valued at $200,000, the 16th-century paintings portray the four
apostles
The Dutch government seized four icons looted from a monastery in
northern Cyprus and will hand them to Cypriot authorities Wednesday,
according to Walk of Truth, an organization that campaigns to preserve
cultural heritage.
The 16th-century icons portraying the four apostles, valued at about
$200,000, were taken from the medieval Antiphonitis monastery in 1975.
Legal efforts by the Church of Cyprus to recover the icons failed
in 2002 after seven years. A change in Dutch law in 2007 allowed the
government to seize the artworks, said Tasoula Hadjitofi, the founder
of Walk of Truth.
"We have heard that the icons will be delivered to Cypriot authorities
within 48 hours," Hadjitofi told delegates at a Sept. 16 conference
in the Hague. "The Netherlands should be congratulated for this."
The Cypriot government says that as many as 100 Greek Orthodox and
Armenian churches in northern Cyprus were looted or vandalized after
the 1974 Turkish invasion. It estimates that more than 15,000 icons
are missing. Some objects have been recovered in western Europe and
the United States.
The four looted icons of the saints were bought by an elderly Dutch
couple from an Armenian dealer who visited their Rotterdam home. When
the couple tried to auction the icons in the 1990s, employees of
Christie's International warned that they may have been stolen.
Litigation to recover them began in 1995.
A district court ruled that the Dutch purchaser bought the icons in
good faith and was therefore the rightful owner.
The Court of Appeals found that the claim was time-barred under
statutes of limitations in 2002, according to Rob Polak, the
Amsterdam-based lawyer who represented the Church of Cyprus in the
legal process.
Questions about the ruling were raised in the Dutch parliament, and
in 2007, the Cultural Property Originating From Occupied Territory
Act was passed.
The law bans the import and ownership of cultural property originating
from a territory that was occupied in an armed conflict after 1959,
and allows the Minister of Education, Culture and Science to seize any
such property. In cases where the owner is deemed to be a good-faith
buyer, he may receive compensation from the Dutch state.