Culture

Private house museum with stolen masterpieces discovered in Italy

Italian authorities discovered a villa turned into a private museum, which houses hundreds of artifacts stolen from the state.

Police found this house in Lanuvio, located south of Rome. Roman columns, statues, decorated fragments of marble, frescoes, vases - all this was found in an impromptu house-museum. In one of the halls was an office where ancient artifacts were stored, which include sketches and a whole collection of coins. To date, police have already detained four suspects who are allegedly the owners of the mansion with valuables.

Taking into account the fact that Italy, rich in talents, stores a huge number of historical artifacts and works of art, the country's police regularly encounter thefts of cultural property. So, last month, the unknown, bypassing the tight guard, entered the Pompeii complex, which is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, and stole part of the fresco.

A few days ago, in the homeland of Michelangelo and Botticelli, they discovered other masterpieces of world art - two paintings by Paul Gauguin and Pierre Bonnard, stolen almost forty years ago. Missing art objects were found in the kitchen from an ordinary worker who admitted that he had acquired them for almost a penny and had no idea that they were stolen.

The man did not even suspect that the creations of great artists were hanging on his wall until his son accidentally stumbled upon another picture of Gauguin in a magazine and noticed an unusual similarity between the two canvases.

The Italian immediately turned to experts for help in assessing his property, and later a special bureau for investigating such cases contacted him. By the way, the total value of finds can reach at least 10.6 million euros.

Last month, 68 more were added to the list of cultural heritage of Italy. It is precisely the number of allegedly stolen artifacts that the Swiss authorities returned to the country of wine and sun, and the total number of art and history objects returned over the past 13 years to their homeland was 4,500. “The last 69 artifacts completed the process of mutual assistance between the two countries, which lasted for many years, and allowed the transfer of 4,536 historically important objects,” said the representative of the Ministry of Culture of Switzerland, noting that hundreds more items were seized from thieves in the country.

Italy turned to a neighboring country for help in 2001 after it became known that there was a whole network that included antique dealers, businessmen, bankers, and others involved in the illegal sale of art objects and their export abroad. Swiss investigators discovered about 5,800 artifacts smuggled into the country, many of which came directly from Italy. Five icons that once belonged to Greece were also returned to their historic homeland.

Watch the video: Italy: Stolen Van Gogh paintings found by anti-Mafia police (November 2024).

Popular Posts

Category Culture, Next Article

Capitol in Rome
Rome

Capitol in Rome

In Italian, the Capitol sounds like Monte Capitolino - Capitoline Mountain. This is the most gentle of the seven hills on which Rome was built. The height of the hill is 46 m. ​​At its top is Capitol Square (Piazza del Campidoglio), in the middle of which stands a bronze statue of Marcus Aurelius. Along the perimeter of the square are the Palace of Senators (Palazzo Senatorio), the Palace of Conservatives (Palazzo dei Conservatori), the Palazzo Nuovo or the New Palace (Palazzo Nuovo) and the Basilica of Santa Maria in Aracheli (Santa Maria in Araceli).
Read More
Rome Markets
Rome

Rome Markets

Walking along the streets of Rome, I want to bring along a piece of the beautiful ancient city, a memory that will remind you of busy days of vacation. I would like to find a souvenir or thing with its own history, or a unique delicacy, and here the markets of Rome will come to your aid: grocery and flea markets, shopping arcades.
Read More
Graffiti in Rome
Rome

Graffiti in Rome

The areas of Garbatella and Ostiense present visitors to the Roman underground culture. Even without being an expert or expert in the field of art, local street art can hardly be underestimated. Walking through the streets of Garbatella, you will see the works of modern street graffiti artists Blu (on Via del Porto Fluviale) and Borondo, “Wall of Fame” by Roman artist JB Rock (on Via dei Magazzini Generali), which is red a 60-meter-long wall on which he portrayed his idols (including Jimmy Hendrix, Barack Obama, Uma Thurman, Frida Kale, Yoko Ono) The Black and White power of the magnificent Lex and Stan (Lex & Sten) (on Via dei Magazzini Generali), illustrations by Agostino Iacurci (on Via Libetta) and many others.
Read More
Termini Station in Rome
Rome

Termini Station in Rome

The main transport gate of Rome is Termini Train Station (Stazione di Roma Termini - Giovanni Paolo II). Every day, trains starting from Termini deliver passengers to all major cities in Italy, as well as to Paris, Munich, Geneva, Brussels, Vienna. 29 railway platforms located on 225 thousand m2 allow Termini to let over 150 million travelers a year through, which ensures the station the status of one of the largest transport hubs in Europe.
Read More