#stolen treasures

[anastasiamaru]

Stolen treasures of Ukraine

russia's invasion of Ukraine is being accompanied by the destruction and pillaging of historical sites and treasures on an industrial scale.

Museums are now resorting to showing replicas in place of some of their most valuable artifacts.

👆A golden tiara, inlaid with precious stones by master craftsmen some 1,500 years ago, was one of the world’s most valuable artifacts from the blood-letting rule of Attila the Hun, who rampaged with horseback warriors deep into Europe in the fifth century.

Workers hid the Hun diadem and hundreds of other treasures in February when russian troops stormed the southern city of Melitopol. But after weeks of repeated searches, soldiers discovered the building's secret basement, where staff had squirrelled away the museum's most precious objects, and carted the priceless artifacts away.

 

👆Ukraine's museums must now resort to showcasing replicas, such as this copy of a fourth-century B.C. golden ceremonial headgear, an ancient treasure from a Scythian king's burial mound that is displayed at the Museum of Historical Treasures in Kyiv.

Or in other cases, they exhibit nothing at all.

When russian forces sought, unsuccessfully, to encircle the capital, Natalia Panchenko, the director of Kyiv's Museum of Historical Treasures of Ukraine, lived in the museum in the hope of securing its artifacts.

“We were afraid of the russian occupiers, because they destroy everything that can be identified as Ukrainian,” she said. 

👇A replica of a fourth-century B.C. golden diadem from an ancient Scythian burial mound is exhibited in the Museum of Historical Treasures in Kyiv.

According to Panchenko, many of the museum artifacts have been relocated and reproductions now occupy their former places.

"These things were fragile. They survived hundreds of years," she said. "We couldn’t stand the thought they could be lost."

Another replica of a fourth-century B.C. golden ritual quiver, an ancient treasure from a Scythian king's burial mound, is displayed in Kyiv.👇

Ukraine's Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko alleged that russian "soldiers" had looted thousands of artifacts from almost 40 Ukrainian museums in an interview with AP.

An ancient treasure from a Scythian king's burial mound, exhibited in the Museum of Historical Treasures in Kyiv.👇

Tkachenko said the looting and destruction of cultural sites has caused losses estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

"The attitude of russians toward Ukrainian culture heritage is a war crime," Tkachenko told AP.

"These are ancient finds. These are works of art. They are priceless,” said Oleksandr Symonenko, chief researcher at Ukraine's Institute of Archaeology. “If culture disappears, it is an irreparable disaster.”

#ukraine #war in ukraine #stolen treasures of Ukraine #stolen relics #stolen relics of Ukraine #russia is a terrorist state #russia is a state of looters #stolen treasures #relics of ancient times #war crimes #war 2022 #museum #museums of ukraine #stand with ukraine #ukrainian tumblr

[ausetkmt]

The Denver Post: A $12 million ancient Mexican artifact has been seized in Colorado. Now the “Earth Monster” is headed back home.

The Mexican delegation stood on the tarmac Friday afternoon near Denver International Airport, waiting under hazy skies for a forklift to deliver a wooden box, the contents of which archaeologists have been searching for nearly two decades.

Inside that box — 95 inches tall, 46 inches wide, emblazoned with the Mexican flag — sat a 2,000-pound, elaborately carved stone from the ancient Olmec civilization, a precursor to the Mayans who thrived more than 2,500 years ago near the Gulf of Mexico.

The prized relic, known as Monument 9 or the Earth Monster, was carefully crafted between 800 and 400 B.C. out of volcanic rock, archaeologists believe. Its wide mouth represents the door to the underworld.

“This is one of the pieces we have been looking for for the longest time,” said Jorge Islas, Mexico’s consul general in New York.

Authorities believe the stone artifact was stolen in the late 1950s or early 1960s from the central Mexican state of Morelos. It was exhibited in New York’s famed Metropolitan Museum of Art in the 1970s, and sometime after made its way into the hands of an unnamed private collector or collectors in Colorado.

Now the stone artifact — with an estimated $12 million value — is headed back to its ancestral homeland after authorities seized it Friday, part of a long-term investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office into stolen Olmec antiquities.

“This is testimony our nation is recovering our great patrimony,” Marcelo Ebrard Casaubon, Mexico’s foreign secretary, said during a news conference.

“A decisive civilization”

Monument 9 isn’t just any old Mexican antiquity.

The Olmecs were the earliest known major Mesoamerican civilization, dominating the tropical lowland of the modern-day Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco south of Mexico City.

Architecture from the Olmecs is quite advanced, said Mario Córdova, an archaeologist who accompanied the Mexican delegation to Denver. That’s why it’s so valued and desired.

“It was a decisive civilization,” Casaubon said.

The Earth Monster sports iconography of jaguars, revered as the most dangerous animal in Central and South America, as well as sacred mountains and indigenous plants.

Archaeologists don’t know how much was taken from the Chalcatzingo Archaeological Zone, but the looting was significant, Córdova said. Mexican authorities believe sometime in the late 1950s or early 1960s, looters broke Monument 9 into pieces and smuggled it into the United States.

The Met exhibited the work from July 1970 through February 1971 as part of its Before Cortes exhibition, a museum spokesperson said. The relic was on loan to the museum from the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute in Utica, NY.

Córdova and other archaeologists spent the past 18 years looking for this significant piece of Mexican history. It’s not clear when, or how, the multimillion-dollar antiquity made its way into the hands of the Colorado collectors.

Authorities didn’t divulge these individuals’ identities on Friday.

“They got a settlement,” Islas told The Denver Post. “They’re super famous, super wealthy people.”

The Mexican government approached the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office with evidence that the artifact had been stolen and authorities located it this year, said Alejandro Celorio, principal legal advisor for Mexico’s foreign ministry.

Douglas Cohen, a spokesperson for the Manhattan DA’s office, said Friday’s seizure came as part of a long-term investigation into stolen Olmec antiquities. The office sports an antiquities trafficking unit that spearheads some of the country’s largest art-crime investigations. In recent months, the team returned stolen artifacts to Iraq, China and Yemen, among other countries.

Recovering lost heritage

The Mexican government in recent years has prioritized cultural property repatriation efforts, scouring the globe for artifacts it believes to have been looted.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador even launched a campaign under the hashtag #MiPatrimonioNoSeVende (“My heritage is not for sale”).

In March, authorities in France, Italy and Germany returned 86 cultural objects to Mexico. The Netherlands in December, meanwhile, returned 223 objects to the Latin American nation.

The country’s efforts come as the global south has increasingly pressed for the return of its heritage after decades of plundering and colonial rule. Museums and private collectors have faced increasing pressure — and attention from law enforcement — over the provenance of antiquities.

Córdova could hardly contain his glee as he stood on the tarmac at the private aviation terminal next to Denver’s airport.

In minutes, the archeologist would accompany the enormous wooden box on a military plane, headed for Mexico. Monument 9 by next week will be displayed at the Palace of Cortés, the famous conquistador’s former residence in Cuernavaca.

“I didn’t believe this was possible,” Córdova said in Spanish through an interpreter. “I’m just so happy.”

#Earth Monster #Mexico #colorado #stolen legacy #stolen treasures #cortes #cuernavaca #museums #A $12 million ancient Mexican artifact has been seized in Colorado. Now the “Earth Monster” is headed back home

[pressnewsagencyllc]

UK loans stolen Asante treasures to Ghana in six-year deal - Times of India

The United Kingdom has returned on a six-year loan 32 gold and silver treasures looted from the Asante kingdom over 150 years ago back to Ghana, Ghanian negotiators said Saturday. The precious artifacts, comprising 15 items from the British Museum and 17 from the Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A), were originally pilfered from the court of the Asante king, during turbulent 19th-century clashes…

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#Asante treasures #british museum #Ghana #return #six-year deal #stolen treasures #UK #UK loans

[dawidstrong]

At least 65 countries have gained independence from the United Kingdom. Now it's time for countries conquered by russia.

#united kingdom #independence day #liberation #colonialism #stolen treasures #exploitation #oppression #assault #freedom

[afrotumble]

Benin Art: Yesterday and Today, Palais de la Marina, Cotonou, February-May 2022 – MUSEUM GEOGRAPHIES

#art #benin #africa #contemporary art #stolen treasures #culture #heritage

[blueiskewl]

Disputed Ukrainian Treasures Returned to Kyiv After Dutch Court Ruling

A haul of Ukrainian treasures sent to Europe for an exhibition nearly 10 years ago have been returned to Kyiv from the Netherlands after a lengthy legal battle.

The collection of ancient artifacts was dispatched to the Netherlands from four museums in Crimea before Russia’s annexation of the region in 2014. But the annexation meant their return has not been straightforward.

“After almost 10 years of litigation, artifacts from four Crimean museums that were presented at the exhibition ‘Crimea: Gold and Secrets of the Black Sea’ in Amsterdam have returned to Ukraine,” the National Museum of History of Ukraine said in a statement.

The collection comprised 565 items, including antique sculptures, Scythian and Sarmatian jewelry, and Chinese lacquer boxes that are 2,000 years old, the museum said.

Rostyslav Karandieiev, Ukraine’s acting minister of culture and information policy, described the treasures’ homecoming as “our great historical victory.”

“It is very important for us to save and protect our history, traditions, and heritage. This is what we are fighting for at the battlefield. We are fighting for our identity and freedom,” he said.

“The exhibition in the Netherlands was showing the history of Ukrainian Crimea, therefore it is exclusively the people of Ukraine who should possess these treasures,” he added.

In a statement published on its website, the Allard Pierson museum in Amsterdam confirmed that the collection had been kept in storage while the legal dispute raged on over whether items should be returned to Ukraine or the four museums in Russian-controlled Crimea, with both sides claiming ownership rights over the historic pieces.

Ultimately, the Supreme Court of the Netherlands ruled on June 9 of this year that the collection should be returned to Kyiv.

In its statement, the Allard Pierson museum went on to say that the items were “independently checked and carefully packed in accordance with museum rules” last month and arrived back in Kyiv on Sunday.

Els van der Plas, director of the museum, said in the statement: “This was a special case, in which cultural heritage became a victim of geopolitical developments. After it became clear in 2014 that the judge would consider the case, we focused on safely storing the artefacts until the time came to return them to their rightful owner. We are pleased that clarity has emerged and that they have now been returned.”

Welcoming the development, Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture and Information Policy said in a statement: “Until the de-occupation of Crimea, the ‘Scythian Gold’ will be temporarily stored on the territory of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.”

By Maria Kostenko, Victoria Butenko and Lianne Kolirin.

#Disputed Ukrainian Treasures Returned to Kyiv After Dutch Court Ruling #ukraine #crimea #russia #russia war crimes #looted #looted art #stolen #stolen art #gold #treasure #Scythian Gold #ancient artifacts #history #history news #ancient history #ancient culture #ancient civilizations

[werebutch]

coyote pups find a camera :)

#soooo cute… #yes I do follow random animal shelters #howling.txt #treasure box #<- that’s my stolen image tag right LMFAO?

[thesnadger]

Just saw National Treasure for the first time in the final days of 2022. I'm obsessed with the one henchman who barely has lines and is largely a nonentity except for one moment where he sees two of the heroes kiss and forlornly asks "why does that never happen to me?"

#national treasure #was he secretly trying to turn the heist into a whirlwind romance heist #only to find his crew was all business? #you may have stolen the declaration of independence but I stole your heart #he practiced saying that in front of a mirror for days and for what

[misterkingdom]

#I’m sorry but this is killing me #murdered by time #Queen Elizabeth #royal family #stolen treasure #Queen Elizabeth ii #corgis #prince Charles #meme #memes #King Charles #King Charles iii

[golvio]

It’s a little weird for me to see all these interpretations of a young Ganondorf as some kind of perpetually -shirtless child supermodel when I personally see him as a cross between Amanda Rule-of-Rose (including the orphanhood and childhood adversity [she DID grow up in a British orphanage run by a neglectful scumbag in the 1910s-20s], its attendant emotional problems and attachment issues, precocious life skills, secret hideout, hilariously overwrought diary entries, and extremely off-putting ways of apologizing and trying to make friends) and an ichimatsu doll.

I know a lot of people think he’s handsome, and want to believe he was always handsome, but I feel like it’d be more fitting if his childhood self was this hilariously awkward, oversensitive, and vulnerable thing that he’s been desperately trying to get away from ever since, and yet in some ways hasn’t changed from at all. For example, he’d be just as likely to do the “leave a letter in their room and watch them through a crack in the door to make sure they read it” thing to someone he’s trying to sincerely apologize to as an adult as he would as a child.

#loz thoughts #ganondorf #he would have a secret attic room where he recites poetry and builds obsessive shrines to every boy he has a crush on like helga pataki #as well as his tendency to hoard ‘treasures’ he finds #in that secret hidden room of his #as a kid it’d be stuff like cool glass bottles pinned butterflies and bleached animal bones #as an adult it’d be weird and possibly dangerous occult artifacts and random things he’d taken during his relationships with people #who he considered ‘special’ enough to get attached to (although he’d rarely openly admit it) #scratched up or faded old photographs and napkins stolen from that one inn where they had dinner #odd little pieces of their lives that are often the only thing anyone remembers them by after they’d died or left him #and they always leave in the end

[anastasiamaru]

The ruzzians looted the Kherson art museum and brought valuable works of the XVII-XX centuries to Simferopol. Kherson is under temporary occupation now. And then you ask why precious 🇺🇦 artworks in russian museums? Because they stole it.

#ukraine #art #museums of ukraine #stolen relics #russian invasion #kherson #city under occupation #war in ukraine #war 2022 #stolen treasures #stolen treasures of ukraine #kherson art museum is empty #russia city of looters and rapists #pray for ukraine #war zone #russia war criminal #russia is a terrorist state #russia looted kherson art museum #stolen art

[slinkiezz]

The Bad Kids and Rocky Horror Picture Show

(In my brain, the Black Pit has monthly shadowcast showings)

Fig: Fucking loves it. She’s been to so many midnight showings and has single handedly dragged every single member of the Bad Kids with her at least once. She can and will play all the songs on her bass. She is counting down the days until she’s old enough to join the shadowcast. She really enjoys talking with the actors when they have a smoke break after the show. She would dress up as Magenta, but she secretly sees her freshmen year self in Janet (repressed innocent looking girl to hooking up with men she just met pipeline)

Kristen: Soon after coming out, Fig and Tracker take her to a showing. She was very wide-eyed trying to take it all in and a little scandalized at first, but she comes back and gets really into the audience participation part. Her ADHD can’t-shut-the-fuck-up brain loves a movie where she can just yell stuff and not get in trouble. She knows every traditional line and adds her own. She owns a Columbia costume that she wears with Fig’s Magenta

Riz: Respects it for what it means to his friends but you could Not pay him to go to a showing. He is not interested and does not understand why all his horny friends like it (Alternatively: He went once with Fig without knowing what it was about. He was one of the virgin sacrifices and left with Fig shortly after)

Adaine: After going to it once, Rocky Horror becomes her Aelwyn’s parties. While she’s not a huge fan of all the sex parts of it, she fully loves having a space where she can be weird and loud and herself. The first time she dressed up, she was really anxious about it, what if no one else was in costume, but when they got there she saw a bunch of other people dressed up and felt better about it. Her first time, she goes as Riff to match Fig and Kristen (plus she loves just being a weird guy and having an excuse to silently stare off into space at random times (it’s in-character)), She also realized, with horror, that one of her old school uniforms would’ve made a good Dr. Scott costume

Gorgug: He’s been a couple times with the group. It’s not really his vibe and the movie isn’t his favourite, but he really loves the experience of going to see it with his friends. He’s added a couple of the songs to his playlists (Alternatively: He went once, saw his parents there and refuses to go back)

Fabian: You cannot convince me this repressed bisexual with a thing for toxic women didn’t take one look at Tim Curry in drag and suddenly have some Realizations. He gets a crush on the shadowcast actor who played Frank, but utterly fails at trying to talk to them after the show. He also gets really into doing the time warp every time. Fig has gotten him to go in an Eddie costume

#I love this movie and midnight showings #pretty mich everything but Riz’s part was stolen from one of two places #1. my own experiences with the show #2. things my fellow shadowcastmates have said about the show #I also fundamentally believe Jawbone has been in a shadowcast #Talking to some of the older cast members is the same treasure trove of weird stories #dimension 20 #fantasy high #rocky horror picture show #rhps #rocky horror

[sysig]

Only the cutest prettiest sparkliest aliens (Patreon)

Bonus comparison | 2023 | 2021

Oh no he’s been yasssified

#Doodles #SCII #Arilou #ZEX #YIK #Leftover SCII doodles! Remember how I left off on SCII at the end of September? That feels so long ago! #I had a few ancillary doodles left over ♪ A bit of Pirate Fic a bit of just general silliness :) Fun! #Outfit designing for the guest Arilou at the Captain's defense-planning table :D Cute! #I went looking for references of maritime naval uniforms for them as well but nothing in particular stood out to me :P A shame #So I mostly went with something comfortable and easy to move in :D And cute of course! The Arilou's shoes in their actual outfits are ♪ cute #They also give me Knifecat vibes lol - I guess I'll have to see how that holds up once I meet one for real #Looking forward to it for sure! #A couple of ZEXes - thinking around flintlock pistols! Again while I was rewatching Muppet Treasure Island lol #Gosh that feels like years ago now haha - but the scene where Silver leaves in the boat with the stolen treasure #I just like ZEX with weapons ♪ Doesn't intend to use them just puffing up to appear more deadly than he wants to have to act on #Always always paired with the knowledge of his history and where he stands with other humans - the blood on his hands! (Arms? Tentacles?) #But he wouldn't really want to hurt him <3 Would he even be able to? I guess it's mostly a matter of aim and fire #One arm around the barrel - ouch - and one squeezing the trigger #These weapons are not made with VUX in mind! #A Very pretty ZEX - there was an animation meme going around and my brain was Fighting me for who it would better suit #Between Scriabin and ZEX actually lol - normally it'd be an easy choice (which way??) but I was So in on SCII at that moment #It was the GOD meme - first of all so many gorgeous entries hhhh <3 <3 But they are honestly both kinda perfect for it?? #ZEX wins this time ♪ Good for him #And rounding off with a YIK <3 <3 <3 #I don't remember if there was any inspiration for drawing her in a veil other than just - she pretty ♥ No thought just YIK 💖 #She did end up super pretty :) I think veils would work well for VUX! Especially like jewel or gold embroidered ♪ All the decoration! #Oh and technically sort of one more - I had forgotten I'd made a similarly-posed doodle of ZEX a bit back lol #Interesting style evolution and Totally Nothing Else lol

[xiphosuras]

More D&D drawings! These are from a very fun one-shot a friend of mine ran.

I played Mischa the hagfish rogue, Roshambo the beast barbarian is @anq-art's, Greg the sailor is Jan's and the punk rock bard who's name I'm blanking on is @mooralltach's.

#dungeons and dragons #dnd art #dnd character #hagfish #fantasy characters #inked #lineart #dnd #it was a one-shot with some pvp worked in #after completing a heist as a team Roshambo tried to murder Mischa so Mischa threw her buddy Greg under the bus #then after Roshambo failed Mischa backpeddled and escaped together with Greg with the secret mission objective the others didn't know about #and Mars' bard tricked Roshambo out of the other treasure we'd stolen. Nobody died which was a miracle #very fun session :)

[ikram1909]

We can't clown Pedri for his ugly car anymore 😞😞

#in all seriousness I'm going to miss that ugly green mini cooper #Pedri #I'm tagging him as Morocco's stolen treasure from now on btw #he's Moroccan to ME #Morocco's stolen treasure #barça

[blueiskewl]

German Police Arrest Suspects in Theft of 483 Celtic Gold Coins from Museum

The men were found in possession of gold bars, likely made by melting down the stolen coins.

Gold bars made from melted-down ancient Celtic coins that were stolen in a museum heist have been found by police in Germany. Four suspects have been arrested.

Thieves stole 483 coins from the Celtic Roman Museum in Manching after midnight on November 22, 2022. They severed several fiber optic cables, which caused internet and telephone connections in 13,000 households to go down for several hours. About an hour later, the museum was broken into and the suspects pried open two locked doors to make off with the gold coins.

The prosecutor’s office in Ingolstadt and the art investigators of the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office took over the investigations and recovered two blue crowbars, pruning shears, and a side cutter in the nearby area.

Police found a trace of DNA on the recovered items and conducted search in a nationwide DNA database and in neighboring countries, which alerted investigators to a string of eight similar thefts in Germany and Austria since 2014.

“The perpetrators were always equipped in the same way during the burglaries,” police said in a statement translated from German. “They wore black overalls with balaclavas and each had identical crowbars, screwdrivers and an angle grinder with several cutting discs.”

By examining the crime spree incidents together, investigators were able to identify the first suspect, a 42-year-old man from Schwerin, believed to have been involved in an April 2018 burglary. Through him, police identified a second suspect described as a 46-year-old German man.

Investigators eventually discovered two more suspects, a 50-year-old man from Schwerin and a 43-year-old man from Berlin, police said. The four men were arrested Tuesday and brought before investigating judges on Wednesday.

Police said the 43-year-old man from Berlin was carrying 18 gold nuggets in a plastic bag when he was arrested. Forensic analysts identified the material composition as having levels of gold, silver, and copper that corresponded to the composition of the stolen coins.

Prosecutors have charged the men with aggravated gang theft in combination with damaging property and disrupting telecommunications systems.

The museum praised the “significant success” of the investigation in a brief statement on Facebook.

By Adam Schrader.

(Wonderful news that there has been arrests in this case but very sad that some, if not all of the coins have been destroyed)

#German Police Arrest Suspects in Theft of 483 Celtic Gold Coins from Museum #gold #gold coins #celtic gold coins #treasure #stolen #looted #ancient artifacts #archeology #archeolgst #history #history news #ancient history #ancient culture #ancient civilizations #celtic history