A priceless ancient golden helmet from Romania stolen last year from a museum in the Netherlands has been recovered, Dutch authorities announced Thursday.
Under the guard of heavily armed, balaclava-clad police, prosecutors unveiled the 2,500-year-old Cotofenesti helmet, one of Romania’s most revered national treasures from the Dacia civilization, during a news conference in the eastern Dutch city of Assen.
“We are incredibly pleased,” Corien Fahner of the prosecution service told reporters. “It has been a roller-coaster. Especially for Romania, but also for employees of the Drents Museum.”
Two of three missing armbands were also recovered as part of a deal prosecutors reached with three men arrested for the heist shortly after it occurred.
Fahner said the search for the remaining armband would continue.
“The helmet is slightly dented, but there will be no permanent damage,” Drents Museum director Robert van Langh said during the news conference. “The armbands are in perfect condition.”
Thieves used a homemade firework bomb and sledgehammer to break into the museum.
Grainy security video distributed by police after the raid appeared to show three people opening a museum door with a large crowbar, followed by an explosion.
The theft put a strain on relations between the Netherlands and Romania.
Romanian Justice Minister Radu Marinescu last year called the incident a “crime against our state” and said recovering the artifacts “is an absolute priority.”
