Looted Icons Seized by Dutch Government Return to Cyprus
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The Dutch government seized four icons looted from a monastery in northern Cyprus and will hand them to Cypriot authorities today, according to Walk of Truth, an organization that campaigns to preserve cultural heritage.
The 16th-century icons portraying the four apostles, valued at about $200,000, were taken from the medieval Antiphonitis monastery in 1975. Legal efforts by the Church of Cyprus to recover the icons failed in 2002 after seven years. A change in Dutch law in 2007 allowed the government to seize the artworks, said Tasoula Hadjitofi, the founder of Walk of Truth.