Bulgaria recovers illegally exported antiquities
Following nearly two years of joint efforts, Bulgaria recovered the antiquities, which were illegally taken out of the country and seized by the Canadian authorities in 2008. The two packages, which were intended for import into Canada, contained approximately 276 archaeological artefacts, comprising 261 coins, earrings, medallions, brooches, knives, ornaments, two human figurines, and other small objects. The objects were examined by two experts, one from the Museum of Fine Arts in Montreal, and a second expert from the Royal Museum of Ontario. The Canadian expertize established that they are genuine, made of silver and bronze, and date from the time of the Roman and Byzantine Empires to the Middle Ages. The figurines date from 1800-1200 BC and they could all be located on the territory of today’s Bulgaria.
In the framework of the mechanism for interdepartmental co-ordination, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs took immediate action, jointly with the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of the Interior and the Supreme Cassation Prosecution Office, and a request for legal assistance was sent for the purpose of investigating into the case and for the recovery of the coins and the antiquities by the Canadian State to the Bulgarian judicial authorities. Consequently, in 2010 the Canadian authorities pronounced themselves that the coins and artefacts should be returned to the Government of Bulgaria on the grounds of the 1970 Unesco Convention.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs took the necessary action concerning the receiving of the seized coins and artefacts and their transportation to Bulgaria. The above-mentioned good example of transnational co-operation for the prevention of illegal trafficking of objects of cultural value, which is a scourge for world culture, is a model of a successful operation, but at the same time, it is a warning against any future attempts of this kind.