An important painting stolen from a Serbian castle in 1993 was seized this week in Zurich, Switzerland by the police, the latter announced on Friday (August 13th). Several individuals have been arrested in Switzerland and Serbia, thanks to the cooperation of the authorities. “
In the middle of the week, the Zurich public prosecutor's office seized a painting stolen from a Serbian castle in the 1990s during searches in the city of Zurich. This painting is considered an important national cultural property in Serbia,
”the Zurich cantonal police said in a statement. The work entitled
Blagovestanski sabor
, by painter Vlaho Bukovac, was stolen from Celarevo Castle (Serbia) in 1993. It was seized on Wednesday 11 August.
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Beta news agency reports that three people suspected of being involved in the attempted sale of the painting have been arrested in Serbia.
According to the local Serbian press, the police raided the apartments of these suspects in central Belgrade on Thursday evening.
Three people arrested in Serbia
The painter Vlaho Bukovac was born on July 4, 1855 in Cavtat (Croatia, at the time the Austro-Hungarian Empire) and died in Prague on April 23, 1922. This adventurer lived in North America, in Europe and also sailed a lot.
The painting found represents a meeting of Serbian notables which took place on April 2, 1862. The meeting, a kind of informal parliament, was supposed to define an official demand for autonomy and more rights for the Serbs in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. .
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Bukovac is famous for making the portraits of kings Aleksandar and Petar Karadjordjevic (Petar was the king of the Serbian kingdom during World War I and his son Aleksandar king of Yugoslavia which he founded).