Hungary redeemed Seuso treasure

According to hvg.hu, Orbán Viktor announced on an extraordinary press conference that Hungary has retrieved half of the Roman period Seuso treasure on the weekend. The head of the government deems that this is Hungary’s family silver, what was redeemed for a “good price” (4.5 billion Forints), but he didn’t tell who the salesman was. Seuso treasure was found approximately 40 years ago nearby Lake Balaton, but then it disappeared.

After his announcement, Orbán Viktor unveiled seven silver bowls and a copper cauldron in the Parliament’s Delegation Room. For several minutes thereafter, only the exposure of cameras was heard.

The treasure was transported home by the employees of Counter-terrorism Center at the weekend.

The Prime Minister said that the retrieval cost 15 million Euros, which was a good deal for Hungary in his opinion. Namely because at the time when the former proprietor Lord Northhampton wanted to sell the treasure at auction in 1990, New York, the starting price was three times more than the price above.

15 million Euros roughly corresponds to those 4.5 million Forints from which the government bought some – so far kept secret – artwork for the Museum of Fine Arts. Experts previously guessed that Courbet’s nude painting was bought for the museum, but now it appears to be the Seuso treasure.

The Hungarian government pursued to recover the objects for years, but the so far negotiations were ineffective. Until now Hungary tried to prove unsuccessfully that the treasure was found here, near Polgárdi. “We have never renounced the right to possess Hungary’s ‘family silver’” – Orbán said.

The Seuso treasure was probably the property of Seuso, the onetime governor of the Roman army, who presumably had a villa by Lake Balaton (then called Lacus Pelso). The silver set consists of 15 pieces, which originates from the fourth century after Christ, was probably found by Hungarian treasure hunters who later sold the set, which turned up on international auctions afterwards. The Hungarian government started lawsuits in sequence for its recovery with no success. The treasures were sold eight years ago.

The recovered pieces can be viewed in the Parliament for three months free of charge, then the Seuso treasure will be presumably an attraction of the new museum district. The recovery is the merit of Lázár János, the government’s leading party secretary, and of Baán László, the director of Museum of Fine Arts – said Orbán. He didn’t detailed how was it managed to regain the treasures, or from whom were the precious artworks repurchased at all. He asked the journalists to inquire from Lázár and Baán about this topic, but they hurried away after the press conference.

A similar restitution was accomplished in 2006, also in campaign period, when the Gyurcsány government got back the artifacts stolen from Sárospatak library during World War II from Russia. Then we paid 400 thousand Dollars for the 146 books. However, the retrieval of those artworks didn’t happen in such a hit-and-run style, because the Hungarian parliament adjudged already on the spring of 2005 that they would the grant the criteria of the retrieval, and return the Russian treasures from Hungary.

based on the article of hvg.hu

by Zsófia Luca Szemes

Photo: MTI

Source: http://dailynewshungary.com/