[CPProt.net] Iran calls for return of stolen artifacts from Belgium

[Museum Security Network / Cultural Property Protection Net (Ton Cremers)]

Iran calls for return of stolen artifacts from Belgium 

TEHRAN, May 21, 2005 (MNA) -- Iran's Cultural Heritage and Tourism
Organization (CHTO) has sent an a appeal to a Belgian court asking for the
return of nine boxes of smuggled ancient artifacts and a 2800-year-old pin
stolen from the exposition "7000 Years of Persian Art", the Persian service
of the Cultural Heritage News (CHN) agency reported on Saturday, quoting an
unnamed CHTO official. 

The contents of the nine boxes were looted over the past few years from a
3000-year-old ancient site near Khorvin, a village situated 80 kilometers
northeast of Tehran. The items are currently being kept at Ghent University
in Belgium.

The boxes contain metal items which might be oxidized, thus Iranian
officials asked their Belgian counterparts to open the boxes in the presence
of CHTO representatives. The boxes were resealed after the experts examined
the contents.
The ancient pin had been stolen in December 2002 from the European tour of
"7000 Years of Persian Art" during its run at St. Peter's Abbey in Ghent.
Iranian officials had never announced that the artifact was missing until
now.

The expo opened its European tour at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in the
Austrian capital of Vienna in November 2000, displaying 180 masterpieces
from the Iranian National Museum of Tehran. The number of items on display
was reduced to 178 for the rest of the tour. Iranian cultural officials
never mentioned the decrease in the number of the items before.

The curator of the National Museum of Iran, Mohammadreza Kargar, had already
rejected the requests of seven European countries to host the exposition,
which is now underway in Lisbon, saying, "Iranian citizens must be assured
that the artifacts have been safe and sound over the course of the four-year
exhibition tour. They were insured by the organizers, and the there was no
threat of loss or damage of the artifacts."

The CHTO has also asked Belgian officials to identify and punish the thief
or thieves.

The exposition had previously traveled to Germany, Switzerland, Spain, and
Croatia. It will return home after the Lisbon showcase.

Iranian officials have filed several other lawsuits in courts in Britain,
France, Turkey, and Pakistan for the return of smuggled artifacts over the
past few years.
Last month Iran filed a legal complaint in a London court against the owner
of an Achaemenid era bas-relief, demanding its return.

The artifact, along with a great collection of other historical and ancient
Iranian relics, was to be sold at Christie's in April, but the London-based
auction house withdrew the Iranian artifact from the sale pending judicial
investigations.

On March 7, 118 artifacts which had been smuggled to Britain from the
ancient site of Jiroft were returned to Iran. The items had been confiscated
by customs officials at London's Heathrow Airport last summer.


MMS/HG