Some of the world’s finest religious art, recovered through a unique police sting operation in 1997, will finally be returned to Cyprus by the German authorities at a ceremony in Munich today, July 16.
The objects are part of a cache of thousands of mosaics, icons and other cultural objects which were found in the possession of Aydin Dikmen, a Turkish-born art thief, during and after a police raid on his Munich apartment on October 10, 1997.
Most of these objects had been looted from churches in the Turkish-occupied north of Cyprus in the wake of the island’s invasion in 1974.
Their discovery followed a sting operation carried out by 70 officers of the Bavarian police and Tasoula Hadjitofi, founder of the Walk of Truth NGO, who was acting at the time on behalf of the Church of Cyprus. The operation also involved Michel van Rijn, a Dutch art dealer who acted as an intermediary.
The objects stolen from many Cypriot sites included a mosaic hacked from the walls of the 6th-century Kanakaria church, one of the oldest surviving places of Christian worship, and frescoes from the medieval Antiphonitis church which depict the ancestry of Jesus Christ.
The objects have remained in the custody of the Bavarian police for the last 16 years, pending the outcome of legal battles over their fate. In March, a German court finally ruled that more than 170 of the looted objects definitely belonged to Cyprus, clearing the way for their restitution.
“This is a promising moment for all the people of Cyprus who care about the unique cultural heritage of their island. It vindicates the vision of the late Archbishop Chrysostomos I of Cyprus who authorised me to co-ordinate an extraordinary police operation which was highly risky for all of us,” said Tasoula Hadjitofi.
She added that the late Archbishop hoped that the stolen objects would eventually be restored to the ancient churches from which they were looted. For as long as that remained impossible, he felt that the best option was to build a church to house the objects in the “dead zone” marking the island’s de facto line of partition. That would provide an opportunity for worshippers to venerate these objects and pray for an eventual end to the division of Cyprus. The archbishop’s wishes should be considered carefully.
For further information visit www.tasoulahadjitofi.com and www.walkoftruth.com
