State to lose one of the biggest Hungarian treasures?
The Kúria, Hungary’s supreme court, has overturned court rulings which rejected the Esterházy Foundation’s claim on a collection of precious antiques, the foundation said on Thursday.
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The foundation welcomed the decision instructing the secondary court in Budapest to reconsider the case, saying at the same time that it was ready to pursue a private settlement with the Hungarian state. The Kúria called the secondary ruling
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“incomplete, unjustified, and illogical”.
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If restituted to its former owners, the collection would remain in Hungary, the foundation said, adding that they were seeking a “comprehensive agreement” with the Hungarian state, possibly involving the establishment of an Esterházy Art Centre in Budapest.
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The foundation has sought repossession of the collection since 2017, claiming that it was an integral part of the family’s collections in Austria’s Forchtenstein Castle, and that the
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270 pieces of silver, coins, and tapestries brought to Hungary in 1919 were illegitimately collectivised in 1949.
Source: MTI
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