Case Studies

2013: Repatriated from the Netherlands in ‘Lans Case”

These 16^th-century icons portraying the saints John, Mark, Paul and Peter were looted from the Antiphonitis monastery in Kalograia near Kyrenia shortly after the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. An elderly Dutch couple living in Rotterdam purchased the icons from an Armenian door-to-door salesman.

The couple, whose surname is Lans, planned to sell the icons and approached Christie’s International, which confirmed the provenance was Cypriot and urged them to check whether they were looted before consigning them to auction. The couple confided in their neighbour, the Greek consul general, who contacted Tasoula Hadjitofi. Tasoula arranged for Athanasios Papageorgiou, an expert in Byzantine art, to fly from Cyprus to the Netherlands to confirm the providence of the artifacts. Once he identified them as Cypriot, Tasoula received power of attorney from Archbishop Chrisostomos I to act worldwide on the church’s behalf for repatriations.

Tasoula engaged Rob Polak of De Brauw and Blackstone, who previously represented Christie’s. Rob and Tasoula worked side-by-side on the case, with Rob advising Tasoula on the legislative changes required and Tasoula engaging in advocacy.

Rob filed a civil lawsuit and simultaneously invoked the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Heritage in the Event of War. Tasoula began lobbying members of the Dutch parliament in 1996 to ratify the treaty and amend their laws.

Meanwhile, Rob and Tasoula fought the case in Dutch courts on behalf of the Church of Cyprus and UNESCO sent observers to the Netherlands. A district court ruled that the Church failed to prove the Lans couple purchased the icons in bad faith, which would have been necessary in order for it to claim title. The Court of Appeals found that the claim was time-barred under statutes of limitations in 2002.

Tasoula’s advocacy contributed to the passage of the Cultural Property Originating From Occupied Territory Act in 2007.  This allowed the Dutch government to seize the icons and return them to Cyprus in September 2013. “The Netherlands tested its laws, found they were at fault, and fixed them,” Tasoula says. “The Dutch should be congratulated for this and others should follow their example. When laws fail to serve human rights, we change them.”

The four icons are now on display in the Byzantine Museum of Nicosia. This gesture by the Dutch government contributed greatly to Cypriot-Dutch relations, with Cypriot newspapers thanking the Netherlands for their return.

1995: Repatriated from the Netherlands

Tasoula had learned in 1989 that a doctor living in Holland was in possession of the stolen Archangel Michael, but without a name and address, she was unable to investigate. Years later, she learned the doctor’s name from the Dutch journalist Jan Fred van Wijnen, who unwittingly revealed it to her during an interview. The icon belonged to the Church of St. John the Evangelist in Platanistassa. Although this Church is in the free area of Cyprus in Limassol, this particular icon was on loan to the Bishopric of Kyrenia in northern Cyprus in 1974. After Turkish troops occupied the region, the icon was looted and sold abroad.

Tasoula tracked down the doctor and after she met him and his family, he willingly returned the icon to Cyprus without compensation and requested to remain anonymous. He had previously been confronted with blackmail threats from a black-market dealer who had threatened to reveal all to Tasoula. He was relieved to be free of this hold over him.

Every Cypriot should be grateful to this doctor for his generosity. There are many victims of criminal networks like him, and it is important that they are given ways to step forward without fear. “Their information can help law enforcement convict the crooks,” Tasoula says.

1999: Repatriated from Greece (previously sold in Paris)

In September 1998, Tasoula received information that a fresco showing the head of the Archangel Michael, looted from the Antiphonitis Monastery, was in the possession of a Greek art collector in Athens. She contacted Marianna Latsi, who had purchased it in good faith. Latsi agreed to return it without compensation to the Church of Cyprus. Tasoula repatriated it to Cyprus in February 1999. “Collectors like Marianna Latsi must be praised for their sensitivity towards the people of Cyprus,” Tasoula says.

1998: Repatriated from Greece (previously sold in London)

Before Tasoula became the Church representative, the Church initiated a civil case against a private Greek collector in Athens to recover the Virgin Mary and Child icon looted from the church in the Antiphonitis Monastery in Kyrenia. The case dragged on for years with no success until Tasoula, with the Archbishop’s approval, visited the then Greek Minister of Culture, Evangelos Venizelos. Tasoula pointed out that under the terms of the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict of 1954, the icon should be returned to Cyprus. Her advice and the Minister’s efforts resulted in the icon being returned to Cyprus shortly thereafter.

Venizelos’s decision was referenced in the Lans court case as a precedent for the Dutch to follow. The icon was brought back to Cyprus in September 1998 by Minister Venizelos and Tasoula.

“This shows that international legal instruments are available if there is political will.  In 1998 there was political will from Greece, but not from The Netherlands,” Tasoula says.

1999: Repatriated from Germany

Dating from 1584, the icon of John the Baptist was stolen from the church of Agia Paraskevi in the village of Mesa Potamos, Limassol.  Although this village is in the free area of Cyprus, the icon was stolen while it was on loan to the Bishopric of Kyrenia in the occupied area for restoration just before the Turkish invasion of 1974.

In 1986, it surfaced at the Diözesan museum in Freising.  In 1999, Tasoula approached Dr. Peter Steiner, the director of the museum, with an authorisation letter from the Church of Cyprus and a letter from the then Archbishop, Chrysostomos I, addressed to the Cardinal of Bavaria requesting his support in petitioning the museum to return this icon to the people of Cyprus.  Steiner understood the value of this icon to the people of Cyprus and cooperated in its repatriation.  Tasoula returned this icon to Bishop Athanasios of Limassol, who gave it to the chapel in the village of Mesa Potamos where it was housed before 1974.

“Religious leaders must endorse repatriations of sacred artefacts as a strategy, showing respect for each other’s religious freedoms. The intervention of the then cardinal of Bavaria was a true act of interfaith dialogue between Orthodox and Catholics,” Tasoula says.

2012: Repatriated from Germany

In 1997, a controversial Dutch art dealer Michel Van Rijn approached Tasoula with a proposal to lead her to a number of stolen Cypriot treasures hidden in Austria and Germany. With the support of the Archbishop, Tasoula planned a sting operation involving the Cypriot and German police authorities, art smugglers, the dealer Michel van Rijn and lawyers.

Tasoula wanted to limit the church’s exposure so she instructed Van Rijn to “buy” a number of the artifacts with his own money. Once the artifacts were authenticated, Van Rijn would be reimbursed and she would discover who the sellers and art dealers were behind van Rijn’s offer.  With the Archbishop’s backing, Van Rijn went on to purchase 32 frescoes and a Saint Thaddeus mosaic from the 6^th-century Kanakaria church.

Once Tasoula had evidence van Rijn was buying from a Turkish dealer named Aydin Dikmen, she contacted the Bavarian and Cypriot police, who prepared for the final buy to take place in Dikmen’s apartment in Munich. Seventy-five Bavarian police officers operating under cover arrested Dikmen and seized the contents of his apartments and storage rooms.

This sting operation led to the seizure of one of the largest ever hauls of smuggled art from all over the world — over 5000 pieces, some 350 of which were of Cypriot origin.

After a long and costly court fight to claim back the Cypriot objects, 173 items were returned to Cyprus in 2013, including a mosaic depicting St. Thomas hacked from the walls of the Kanakaria church.  All the frescoes, icons, and two mosaics are now housed in the Byzantine Museum in Nicosia, Cyprus.

The intricacies of the Munich Case are described in depth in Tasoula’s book, The Icon Hunter, published on April 11, 2017.

2012: Repatriated from Germany

Tasoula spotted this fragment of a fresco in the sales catalogue of an auction house in Cologne in September 2012. Dr. Athanasios Papageorgiou, the former director of the Department of Antiquities, identified the fresco as looted from the Antiphonitis church. Tasoula obtained power of attorney from the Bishop of Kyrenia to rescue the relic. Tasoula asked for the fragment to be withdrawn from the auction and contacted the consigners. They immediately agreed to return the fragment to Cyprus. The Bishop of Kyrenia flew to Holland to collect it and he returned it to the Church of Cyprus in a ceremony in Nicosia in December 2012. “During this ceremony, the Bishop and Mayor of Kyrenia referred to me as ‘The Icon Hunter,’ and this was the inspiration behind my book’s title,” Tasoula says.

2014: Repatriated from Canada

A Canadian collector unwittingly purchased four frescoes looted from Cyprus. Two were plundered from the Monastery of Panagia Apsithiotissa in Kyrenia – the other two are Cypriot, but their origin could not be determined. Tasoula approached the Canadian possessor in May 2014 and convinced him to return them without compensation. He FedExed them to her hotel room in London. They arrived — unexamined by customs.The frescoes had been removed with force when they were looted and were badly damaged. Tasoula had them restored and they are awaiting repatriation.

The frescoes had been removed with force when they were looted and were badly damaged. Tasoula had them restored and they were repatriated to Cyprus in January 2019.

These frescoes were exhibited at the House of Lords in December 2014 as examples of looted and trafficked sacred heritage.  Under the auspices of Baroness Berridge, Walk of Truth organised an expert event called Blood, Treasure and Islamic State: War, Extremism and the Looting of Culture.

This event became the catalyst for the subsequent legislative changes in the UK in relation to cultural heritage.  MP David Burrowes of Ensfield championed the creation of the All Party Parliamentary Group for the protection of cultural heritage which was inaugurated by the then Mayor, Boris Johnson in September 2015. The APPG, is now co-chaired by David Burrowes and Lord Renfrew, who is authority in this field.  Walk of Truth holds the secretarial of this committee and Tasoula is a key advisor.

“David Burrowes, Lord Renfrew and Lady Berridge are political champions of advocacy in protecting cultural and sacred heritage,” Tasoula says. “I am looking for congressmen in Washington to follow their example and champion legislation changes in USA.”