UNESCO to display artifacts recovered by Italian police

Byzantine frescoes, paintings by early Baroque artists and a letter by Christopher Colombus are among 31 stolen artifacts recovered by Italian police to go on show Wednesday at UNESCO’s Paris headquarters.

A fragment of a Byzantine fresco looted from the Grotta delle Formelle [Credit: Sopraprintendenza per i Beni Architettonici, Paesaggistici, Storici, Artistici ed Etnoantropologici per le Province di Caserta e Benevento, Caserta]

“This exhibition is aimed at raising awareness worldwide about the safeguarding of our cultural heritage,” said Pasquale Muggeo, general of Italy’s Carabinieri paramilitary police which recovered the stolen works with help from authorities worldwide.

Among objects to go on show is a 12th-century ivory crucifix that was stolen from the San Sabino cathedral in the southeastern Italian town of Canosa di Puglia in 1983 and recovered some 25 years later.

Muggeo recounted how the crucifix was put up for sale in France in April 2008, piquing the curiosity of the Italian interior ministry’s office charged with fighting the trafficking of cultural goods. “Thanks to the database managed by the Carabinieri, an international operation led to the arrest of a French woman,” he added.

Several antique vases, pre-Columbian statues, paintings by early Baroque artists Ludovico Carracci and Le Guerchin, as well as two panels of medieval chests painted in the 15th century by Bernardino Fungai, make up the collection on show until July 6. Italy became the first country to create a specialized unit to combat illegal trafficking of cultural goods.

Source: Hurriyet Daily News [June 21, 2012]