Turkey won the legal fight for bringing the smuggled bronze Dionysus statue back
. The judge decided on giving the bronze statue of the God Dionysus 100 AD back to Turkey
PRESS STATEMENT ON NEVZAT TELLIAGOGLU
Dara Dayman of BDO Stoy Hayward was appointed Receiver of Nevzat Telliagoglu's assets on 4 October 1996 following an Order of the High Court of Justice made under the Drug Trafficking Act 1994. Sara Dayman was appointed to take possession and sell the defendant's assets to satisfy the Confiscation Order in the amount of £ 3,458,806 made against the defendant on 3 July 1996. The assets included a bronze statue of Dionysus originating from the first century AD, stored in a bonded warehouse in Switzerland. The Swiss authorities agreed to release the statue to the Receiver with two provisos. Firstly that the British Authorities settle any third party claims to rights of ownership in the English Courts. Secondly, the British Authorities return the statue to its country of origin if, on the conclusion of inquiries, it was recalled that the statue was illegally removed from Turkey or any other country.
While that statue has been in the UK it has been under the Receiver's control. In an attempt to establish the statue's origin, the Receiver obtained the expert advice of the British Museum, it could not conclude that the statue originated only from Turkey and no where else in the Roman Empire. The Receiver also advertised in several publications asking for any claimants to the statue to make themselves known. While its ownership was being decided, the British Museum arranged to store the statue without charge to ensure that no damage came to it. In the absence of any substantial evidence from the Turkish Authorities as to the statue's origins, the Receiver advised that unless a Request for legal Assistance was issued with evidence in support of their claim, she would be forced to dispose of the statue. In 21 January 2000 the Deputy General Director of international Law and Foreign Relations of Turkey submitted a Request for legal Assistance ( Bronze Statue) to the British Authorities. Unfortunately the evidence put forward at the stage was considered insufficient by the Receiver's advisors to agree to the release of the statue. The Receiver therefore made an application to the High Court of Justice for a determination of ownership, and notified the Turkish Authorities to enable them to make representations to the Court. The evidence put forward was that the statue was purchased in Turkey and illegally exported. As such, it was claimed that it remained the property of the Turkish Authorities under Turkish legislation namely the Act of Preservation of Cultural and Natural Objects numbered 2863. In the absence of any evidence to the contrary, the receiver consented to the statue being returned to the Turkish Authorities.
For further information, please call:
Melissa Deegan, BDO Stoy Haward press office. Tel: 020 7893 2740 Sara Jurado, BDO Stoy Hayward press office, Tel: 020 7893 2717 From: Heather Nicholls HNICHOLS@LIBRARY.BERKELEY.EDU
Subject: Alarm systems
I would like to find any information on wireless alarm systems used for exhibit display cases. The cases that need to be alarmed are 10-15 years old with no interior cavities for hiding an alarm. Any ideas on sources, types, etc. would be a great help.
Heather Nicholls Book Conservation Assistant Preservation Department Room 9, Main Library Berkeley, CA 94720-6000 510-642-8842 Fax: 510-642-4664
Crocodile tears as fossil gets hijacked
A unique fossil of an ancient Karoo crocodile was lost to science after the vehicle in which it was being transported was stolen in Bloemfontein. The fossilised skull part belonged to the National Museum in Bloemfontein. It was the only known fossil of its species and the so-called holotype on which the name and first description of the ancient amphibian, called Jammerbergia Mucidiops, was based, Dr Ross Damiani said on Tuesday. Damiani, an Australian paleonthologist doing contract research for the University of the Witwatersrand, was to return the fossil he had borrowed from the National Museum when it was stolen a few weeks ago together with the Toyota Venture in which he had transported it to Bloemfontein. It was even possible that the car thieves realised the value of the fossils The vehicle belonged to Wits University and was parked in front of the guest house Damiani was staying in while attending a conference of the Palaeontological Society of South Africa. It was stolen on the first night of his Bloemfontein visit, together with two other boxes of fossils which were to be returned to the South African Museum in Cape Town and the Albany Museum in Grahamstown.
Damiani said on Tuesday the theft of the Jammerbergia fossil was a huge loss to paleonthology as it was the only known fossil of its genus and species in the world. He discovered it a while ago in the collections of the National Museum. The name, translated as "mouldy face from Jammerberg", was based on a description of the fossil, found in 1927 at Jammerberg near Wepener in the southern Free State by one Van Hoepen, who was the director of the National Museum at the time. Damiani had borrowed the fossil while writing a research paper on it, describing the new genus and species. The article, which he finalised, was due to appear in a scientific journal in March 2003. Damiani said Jammerbergia Mucidiops was an ancient relative of modern amphibians, living 245- to 250-million years ago in the swampy environment which was then the Karoo landscape. It would have looked like a crocodile several metres in length. Although Damiani will now look for other specimens of the new species, the important holotype fossil seems to be lost forever. http://www.iol.co.za/
Former Solutia guard sentenced to prison for stealing art
A former security guard for Solutia Inc. has been sentenced to prison for stealing artwork from the company and selling it. Derek Hall, 45, of Granite City, Ill., was sentenced to eight months in prison and ordered to pay $17,000 in restitution on one felony count of interstate transportation of stolen goods. The U.S. Attorney General's office said Hall stole and transported several pieces of art from the company, including four oil paintings. Some of the items were recovered from art galleries and a family member. The $17,000 in restitution is the value of the items that were not recovered. http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/
Family accuses National Gallery of breaking terms of bequest
By Terri Judd
Some of the National Gallery's most outstanding Renaissance paintings could become the subject of legal action to reclaim them after the gallery was accused of failing to honour the donor's last wishes. The £500m collection of 43 masterpieces, including works by Raphael, Titian and Botticelli, were donated by Ludwig Mond, a German Jewish émigré, in the 1920s on the condition they remain "substantially united". His family say the paintings have become scattered and the gallery may have forfeited its right to them by breaking the terms of the bequest, it was reported last night. Richard Hornsby, Dr Mond's great-great-grandson, accused the museum of "theft by any other name". "This is disgraceful treatment towards one of its greatest donors," he said, adding that he could no longer tolerate the gallery's refusal to observe conditions of the original will. The family funded half the cost of the Mond Room to house the works of art, though it is now filled with Van Dycks. Some of the paintings are now hanging in the Lower Galleries, currently open only on Wednesdays, while others have been put into storage. Two works are on loan to the British Museum.
"By stealth, Mond pictures have been placed according to curators' preferences in historical order and scattered throughout the gallery," said Mr Hornsby, 54, chief executive of the Sir Robert Mond Memorial Trust, a mental health charity. "All that remains of the collection is a small plaque in the Mond Room saying that the room was built with a donation from the Mond family." Leolin Price QC, who has been contacted by the family, added: "If there are terms of the bequest, the family may, when investigated, have a right to recover what has been given without accepting the terms." Dr Mond, a pioneering industrialist and chemist who came to England in 1867 and laid the foundations of ICI, left the bequest to the National Gallery to reflect his gratitude to his adopted nation. A gallery spokeswoman said: "The National Gallery is proud to house the paintings so generously bequeathed by Dr Ludwig Mond. They include some of the gallery's most outstanding Renaissance paintings, most famously Raphael's Crucified Christ, which has central place in the Sainsbury Wing. "The Gallery's aim has always been to make sure its collection is on display at all times but from time to time paintings have to be moved for a number of reasons." http://news.independent.co.uk/
Emergency rescue required for cultural relics in Three Gorges dam area
Nov 05, 2002 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- Among the protected relics are four "state treasures," which are a 1,700-year-old temple, the ancient Dachang Town reputed for its well preserved and protected Ming-Dynasty style residential architectures, Baiheliang, or the world's oldest hydrologic inscriptions, and a stockade ancient village featuring exquisite wooden structures.
Chinese experts have worked out specific and proper protection methods for each of the archeological treasures. The Zhang Fei Temple, originally built in honor of General Zhang Fei during the Three Kingdom period (220-280 a.d.) on the banks of the Yangtze River will be displaced and rebuilt brick-for- brick in its new location 32 km west of its existing site. The high-cost relic protection project, including the relocation of the entire construction as well as 126 ancient trees, is the largest relic relocation in China. The original temple will be disassembled by the end of this year. The ancient Dachang Town will be rescued in a method similar to the Zhang Fei Temple. Its architecture will be rebuilt at a new site 5 km away, which will imitate the original geographic features and cultural flavors. The rebuilding will begin in February next year.
The protection scheme for the Baiheliang is special and unique. It will be turned into an underwater museum. The 1,600-meter long horizontal rock girder with inscriptions dating back 1,200 years will be protected in a container made of concrete and glass at its original site, which will be inundated after the damming. Protectionists will make use of two low-water seasons to finish the construction of the museum. And an underwater passage will lead tourists to the museum in 2005.
The Shibao Village, dubbed as the world's most complex wooden structures, will be protected by a dyke encircling the village. Passenger and cargo wharves will be erected in April next year at the bank of the village.
XINHUA NEWS AGENCY. http://library.northernlight.com/