11:48 10.10.2016

Netherlands museum receives 5 paintings from Ukraine stolen 11 years ago

1 min read
Netherlands museum receives 5 paintings from Ukraine stolen 11 years ago

Five paintings stolen 11 years ago have been returned to the Westfries Museum in the Netherlands. The paintings have been severely damaged, Deutsche Welle has reported, citing the director of the museum, Ad Geerdink.

"Our inheritance has returned to the museum, where it should be, to the city, where it should be," Geerdink said, speaking to several hundred visitors to the museum on Friday.

She said that the paintings were "unbelievably damaged" and the museum is collecting funds to restore the works.

As earlier reported, in December 2015 a representative of the museum said that a collection of 24 paintings stolen in 2005 had been found in Ukraine.

In April 2016 agents from Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) together with Dutch police found four of the paintings stolen from the museum.

Ukraine turned over the five paintings in September 2016. The painters and titles are: Jacob Waben, Vrouw Wereld (Lady World), 1622 and Terugkeer van Jefta (The Return of Jephta), 1625; Floris van Schooten, Keukenstuk (Kitchen Scene), 17th century; Hendrick Boogaert, Boerenbruiloft (A Peasant Wedding), 1671-1675 and Izaak Ouwater, Nieuwstraat in Hoorn, 1784.

It's still not clear where the other paintings are and how long it will take to recover them.

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