A 2,500-year-old golden helmet considered one of Romania’s greatest treasures has been recovered more than a year after it was stolen during a raid on a Dutch museum.
It and two golden bracelets dating back to about 450BC were unveiled as having been returned to the museum on Thursday, secured behind a glass case with two armed police guarding them. A third bracelet has not yet been found.
The theft of the Coțofenești helmet and bracelets by an armed gang who broke into the Drents Museum in Assen caused outrage in Romania and raised questions about security for priceless artefacts on loan to other countries.
“It’s a long-awaited result,” Romanian prosecutor Daniela Buruiană told journalists.
“We are happy that we are now witnessing here the recovery of the Romanian artefacts,” she added.
The treasures had been on loan from Romania’s national history museum when they had been stolen and were part of an exhibition called “Dacia – empire of gold and silver”, telling the story of the people and civilisation who lived in present-day Romania before the Roman conquest in 106 AD.
Their theft prompted a spat between the two governments that led to the Dutch government paying a reported €5.7m (£5m; $6.5m) in insurance compensation.
Romanian officials refused to discuss what would happen to that money now.
Robert van Langh, director of the Drents Museum in the northern Netherlands, said the helmet had been slightly dented but could be restored. The bracelets remained in perfect condition, he said.
Romanian prosecutor Rareș-Petru Stan spoke of the “major impact” that the theft had had in his home country, and praised his Dutch colleagues for their “hard work and keeping the faith”.
“We are continuing the investigation to find the last bracelet,” he added, “and we are grateful that we will be able to return this treasure to the Romanian people.”
Dutch public prosecutor Corien Fahner revealed that the helmet and bracelets were handed over to authorities on Wednesday following negotiations involving lawyers for the three suspects.
Two men in their mid-30s and one aged 21 will face trial later this month.
The suspects were arrested within days of the gang using explosives to break into the museum, but by then there was no trace of the priceless items.
Art experts have suggested that the helmet and bracelets were stolen to order by a criminal gang.
Several Dutch provincial museums have been targeted in recent years because of the difficulty in providing adequate security for priceless artefacts. The helmet and bracelets were in a glass case that provided little resistance to the armed group.
In 2024, two works by Andy Warhol were stolen from a gallery in the southern Netherlands, and six years ago a Frans Hals painting called Two Laughing Boys was stolen from a small museum in the central town of Leerdam.
The former head of the national history museum in Bucharest, Ernest Oberländer-Târnoveanu, faced considerable domestic criticism for loaning the gold objects abroad and lost his job within days of the theft.
He spoke of his relief that the helmet had been retrieved.
“This is a unique item in European and even global cultural heritage,” he told RTL Nieuws. “The helmet is an important social and political symbol of Dacian civilisation.”
Source: BBC
