Bucharest will send a “firm message” to the Dutch authorities, PM says.
Romania’s government is furious after national treasures on loan to a Dutch museum were stolen in a brazen theft over the weekend.
A group of thieves used explosives to break into the Drents Museum in Assen in the early hours of Saturday morning and stole four ancient Romanian artefacts, including the Helmet of Cotofenesti, an almost 2,500-year-old gold helmet, which were on loan from the National History Museum of Romania in Bucharest.
The Drents Museum’s director called the heist a “black day” for the institution. “In its 170-year existence, such a major incident has never occurred,” he said, adding the police were investigating.
Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said Sunday the government had set up a “crisis team” to recover the artefacts with representatives from the interior ministry, justice ministry, culture ministry, foreign ministry and the Romanian police.
Ciolacu added that Culture Minister Natalia Intotero would raise the theft during a meeting with the Dutch prime minister and the Dutch royal family on the sidelines of an event in Poland on Monday commemorating the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp.
Intotero “will convey the firm message of the Romanian government that these priceless pieces of heritage be recovered as quickly as possible,” Ciolacu said.
Ciolacu also said Monday that the government had not authorized the transport of the four stolen artefacts — the helmet and three gold bracelets — to the Netherlands, a legal requirement for such priceless objects, according to Romanian media.
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