Looted Art From Cypriot Churches Is Returned by Germany
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Frescos, mosaics and icons looted from churches, museums and monasteries in Northern Cyprus and seized by police in Munich 16 years ago were today handed over to the Cypriot government.
The artifacts were discovered in the Munich apartment of Aydin Dikmen, a Turkish-born art dealer, in 1997. Then valued at 30 million deutsche marks ($17 million), they included a mosaic hacked from the wall of the 6th-century Kanakaria church and a fresco from the medieval Antiphonitis Church.