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1,600-year-old Byzantine art was stolen in the 1970s
One of the last missing pieces of Byzantine art stolen from Cyprus in the 1970s was handed back this week by a renowned Dutch art investigator. “It was in the possession of a British family, who bought the mosaic in good faith more than four decades ago,” Arthur Brand said. “They were horrified when they found out that it was in fact a priceless art treasure, looted from the Kanakaria Church after the Turkish invasion,” Mr. Brand said. The family agreed to return it “to the people of Cyprus” in return for a small fee to cover restoration and storage costs, he added. Mr. Brand said on Friday he handed back the sixth century depiction of Saint Mark during a private ceremony at the Cypriot embassy in The Hague. For Mr. Brand, dubbed the “Indiana Jones of the art world” because of his exploits to recover stolen works, the handover was a highpoint in his life-long interest in the Byzantine saint — and the result of a nearly two-year chase across Europe. “This is a very special piece that’s more than 1,600 years old. It’s one of the last and most beautiful examples of art from the early Byzantine era,” said the art sleuth. After getting a tip from an art dealer, Mr. Brand travelled to Monaco in August. Through a series of intermediaries, he finally traced it to the British family.
Source : https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-life/missing-st-mark-mosaic-finally-returns-to-cyprus/article25533885.ece
