Cinquantenaire Museum returns hundreds of pieces to Iran

On December 25, Brussels’ Cinquantenaire Museum shipped 349 archaeological treasures back to where they came from in Iran. Iran has since 1981 sought the return of the artefacts, many of which were removed from the country illegally, according to Iranian authorities.

The Royal Museum of Art and History in Brussels, also known as the Cinquantenaire Museum, had stored the objects in a depot following a judicial seizure after a Brussels appeals court ruled that the Persian artefacts had to be sent back to Iran.

Last month, all 349 pieces were packaged into nine boxes and flown to Tehran, where they will soon be on display at the National Museum.

The pottery, which dates from the Iron Age, originally entered Belgium in the 1960s, according to La Libre Belgique. The pieces are well-preserved polished ceramics, believed to have come from graves, and include vases, plates, jugs and cups.

The collection, which was excavated from a 4000-year-old ancient site about 60km west of Tehran, was gradually transferred to Belgium by French art collector Yolande Wolfcarius-Maleki, who acquired Iranian nationality through marriage. The court originally rejected Iran’s claim on the artefacts in 1998, but Iran filed an appeal in a Liège court, where Wolfcarius-Maleki’s Iranian heirs eventually won the case.