Various cultural objects returned to Italy
On 18 March 2022, Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth returned to Italy five artefacts that had been illegally traded in Germany. At the Italian Embassy in Berlin, she handed over a small solid-gold coin, a large-format painting, a medieval manuscript, an ancient wine-mixing vessel (known as a krater) and a miniature parchment from the 16th century. The five objects were smuggled out of their home country, Italy; some had been missing for decades before they were finally discovered in Germany.
German delegation at the handover ceremony at the Italian embassy in Berlin.
Source: BKM
In 1990, unknown culprits stole a 16th-century missal by the artist Ludovico da Romagnano from the archives of the Episcopal Curia in Turin. Individual pages known as miniature parchments were removed from the missal and offered for sale illegally in Germany. A special unit of the Italian Carabinieri found the miniature parchment through online research. In cooperation with the German police, they were able to secure the object and verify its authenticity as the missing original. The miniature parchment finally returned to Turin in 2022.
Miniature parchment by the artist Ludovico da Romagnano.
Source: BKM
The Nostradamus manuscript was penned by the French physician, philosopher and astrologer Michel de Nostredame (1503-1566), known popularly as Nostradamus. In April 2021, it was stolen from a library in Rome; just a few weeks later, it was tracked down in Germany, where it was being offered for sale. The Italian and German police authorities were able to secure it before any sale occurred.
The painting “Orlando discovers Angelica’s love for Medoro” by the artist Agostino Tassi (1578-1644) went missing from a private collection in Bologna and was brought to Germany illegally. In June 2021, it was seized by the Bavarian police.
The Roman gold coin, which was minted circa AD 385 in Trier, Germany, and bears the image of Emperor Magnus Maximus, was stolen from the National Archaeological Museum of Parma in 2009. Eight years later, the coin came to the attention of police authorities when it was offered for sale in Germany.
The Lucanian krater, a bell-shaped clay vessel decorated with ochre-coloured figures, dates from between 380 and 360 BC and is displayed at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe in Hamburg. As it is not clear when the object was illegally removed from Italy, there is no legal claim for return under the Act on the Protection of Cultural Property (Kulturgutschutzgesetz), but a cultural agreement has been reached under which the krater will for the time being remain in Hamburg as a work on loan.
“Nostradamus” manuscript by the French physician, philosopher and astrologer Michel de Nostradame.
Source: State Bureau of Criminal Investigation of Baden-Württemberg