Deft Theft n Drents
Varianta în limba română pe FaṭăCarte Meta Zamolxis.
- Summary of the events.
- Discussion of issues reported by MSM & social media.
Most of us absorb news through video, so I made a YouTube Playlist which I plan on keeping updated. As far as I can tell, this was a well planned and well executed heist and the chances of a speedy recovery are low.
Let’s summarize what we know thus far in the form of Q&A.
- When and Where? Around 3:45am on the night of January 24-25, 2025, at the Drents Museum in Assen, “a small northeastern city in Netherlands known for motorsports and picturesque buildings” (wapo-dumuhe).
- What expo? „Dacia! Kingdom of Gold and Silver” July 7, ‘24 – Jan 26, ‘25, over 77000 visitors.
- What was stolen? The Coțofenești helmet (circa 450 B.C.), weighing about 1kg of gold and three Dacian gold bracelets (circa 50 B.C.). It is unclear
if anyhow many of the other “673 gold and silver objects from at least 15 museums across Romania” (nlt-anau) were stolen as well. - How? (At least?) 3 thieves can be seen using dynamite to blast an
doorexterior wall and gain access to the museum. The entire theft took place in just three minutes. - Lapses? The museum did not have human guards on duty at night, despite the high value of the artifacts. The museum claimed that 24/7 surveillance was in place; this is controversial. "You don't want to turn a museum into a fortress, but you could consider putting these kinds of valuable treasures in a safe at night. Smaller museums in particular could consider this," says Arthur Brand.
- Suspects? Dutch police are investigating the incident, including a suspicious vehicle and a car fire that occurred nearby shortly after the explosion (4:15). Interpol has been involved in the investigation. A “suspicious” individual seen with a large hat and a large bag was seen at the museum 5 days before the heist. The Remmo Clan, a Kurdish-Lebanses group that made such thefts in Germany was cited as potential suspects.
- Getaway car? Volkswagen Golf found near Rolde, 6km from Assen, burned down, about 30 min later, was stolen from Alkmaar, 200km from Assen, on January 23 or 24; the license plates were likely stolen beforehand.
- Insurance? Total value for all expo: over 30 million euro; no value for the stolen artifacts separately disclosed.
We have discussed in the past the lack of resources and investment in the archeological site at Sarmizegetusa Regia, never mind the actual thefts in our beloved country.
I’m an optimist and hope that the artifacts were stolen as part of a “command” from another hopeful “owner”, but others think it’s for melting (nlt-anau):
Art historian Arthur Brand, widely known as the "art detective," described the robbery as part of a troubling trend. “Against this kind of break-in, no museum can fully protect itself,” he said.
Brand added that the Netherlands has become a hotspot for thefts involving explosives. “The thieves have realized this method works. The sky is the limit; the gates are wide open. This is deeply concerning on all fronts. Police and government must find answers quickly.”
Brand also expressed concerns about the likelihood of recovering the stolen artifacts, explaining that gold is often melted down for its material value, citing similar cases, including the 2017 theft of a 100-kilogram gold coin in Berlin and a Roman gold treasure stolen in Munich. Neither was recovered.
“This is a nightmare scenario for any museum,” Brand said. “Paintings are often stolen with the intent to sell or return them later. But gold is stolen to be melted down. For Romania, this is a disaster; this collection was significant national heritage.”
The theft is part of a concerning wave of museum robberies in the Netherlands. In November 2024, an explosion facilitated the theft of Warhol prints from a gallery in Oisterwijk. Similar incidents occurred in June 2022 at the TEFAF art fair in Maastricht and in 2020 at the Singer Laren Museum, where Van Gogh’s Lentetuin was stolen.
The main artifact had been found by kids in 1926 or ‘27 and used around the house for a while. The finding “founding?” kid was named Trajan.
In the photo above, Raluca Turcan, former minister of culture, is posing happily at the expo opening, and after the theft declared that “weird things” happened, such as the fact that it was “stolen in the last day using dynamite” (?!? night, actually; hn-turcan).
Turcan explained how the treasures got to the Netherlands.
"The exhibits arrived in the museum in the Netherlands on the basis of a project initiated by the National Museum of Romanian History, with the approval of the National Commission of Museums and Collections. The exhibition is part of a wide-ranging cultural diplomacy effort by Romanian museums, which started years ago with the exhibition in Madrid (2021), followed by the one in Rome (2024). The preparation has involved a significant effort from 18 Romanian museums and the Drents Museum (for the Netherlands), one of the oldest and most prestigious museums in Europe," said Raluca Turcan.
Turcan also said that the Drents Museum had a "contractual obligation to ensure special security measures" and that the Ministry of Culture "does not decide on the content of the collections presented in the exhibitions".
"Any approval for the temporary export of cultural goods (exhibitions abroad) is made only with the opinion of specialists from the National Commission of Museums and Collections," Turcan added.
The former minister says that such projects are frequent in the European cultural space, Romania being also the beneficiary of exhibitions of exceptional value brought by cultural institutions abroad, the latest example being the exhibition "Caravaggio's Lights", still on show at the Art Museum in Timisoara.
I agree that “cultural diplomacy” is necessary and important. Perhaps more of such events would make Romania less undesirable to European elites, although the strongest resistance is among the lower income working class, who are unlikely to visit a museum. Then again, minds change slowly and a temporary exhibit such as this was a small step in the right direction.
We should also seriously considered (though I hope it’s not the case) the possibility that the theft was ordered by a Romanian nouveau riche. Most Romanian wealth was created through outright thievery of former communist assets, so stealing Romanian art of another “ancien regime” is not a big stretch. Someone like Becali or Calin Georgescu would want to invest in art (as it’s a good store of value in inflationary times), with the added symbolism being a nice perk. Marcel Ciolacu himself is not foreign to such controversies. This is, by and large, what ctp may be saying below.
Other questions, as of yet unanswered:
- Why were so many original artefacts (all of them, really) sent to such a small museum? Why didn’t they send replicas?
- Why weren’t the artifacts moved into a “safer” place at night, especially since there were no human guards?
- Why wasn’t the information clearly spelled out: the insurance for a the partial loot and whether anything else was stolen?
- What are the plans for the money if paid? Why wasn’t a bounty for information / recapture been set?
To (partly) provide an answer, I look at a discussion on previous thefts (dw-risk). I’d say there’s a 10-20% chance of catching the thieves in the next 48h, but that raises to 40%-60% for the next 3 months if around 500,000 euro bounty is offered.
Sources / More info: drentsmuseum-mat, nlpolice, wapo-dumuhe, nlt-anau, nlt-routrg, dnl-intrpl, imgrgf, rdtwn-au, hn-pove, hn-asig, hn-turcan, hn-ctprahat, arch-dt, fb-ctp-rpr, fb-ctp0-rpr0, dw-risk
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