On Saturday morning, valuable Romanian artifacts, including an ancient golden helmet, were stolen from the Drents Museum in the Netherlands, museum representatives reported.
The stolen exhibits date back to the Geto-Dacian cultural era and belong to the National History Museum of Romania in Bucharest. They were part of a traveling exhibition featuring 673 items from various Romanian museums. The exhibition was scheduled to conclude on Sunday.
The museum’s director, Harry Tupan, stated that nothing like this had happened in the museum’s 170-year history. According to the police, the perpetrators used explosives to break through the museum’s doors, and multiple individuals were likely involved. Interpol has been called in to investigate the incident.
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, nearing the end of his term, stated that Dutch Prime Minister Dijk Schoof had promised to take all necessary measures to find those responsible and recover the stolen artifacts.
Among the stolen items are unique relics, such as the golden helmet of Coțofenești, dating back to 450 BCE, and three Dacian bracelets created around 50 BCE. The bracelets were previously stolen in the 1990s when they were smuggled out of Dacian fortresses and sold on the black market. Only part of them has been recovered to date.
