The director of Romania’s National History Museum was fired on Tuesday in the fallout over the daring theft of an ancient gold helmet from a Dutch museum.
Ernest Oberlander-Tarnoveanu has headed the Bucharest museum which loaned the 2,500 Cotofenesti helmet and three spiral bracelets to the Dents Museum in the Netherlands since 2011.
Culture Minister Natalia Intotero dismissed him saying he hadn’t communicated properly. Commentators suggested the move was politically motivated ahead of a key presidential election which the government wants to win.
Mr. Oberlander-Tarnoveanu, an internationally respected historian who is not a member of any party and has worked at the museum for 45 years, responded to his removal, saying: ”I would like to point out that I was not told that I had broken the law or norms. (The minister) found false pretexts to get me to resign, trying to intimidate me in various ways.”
Universul.net has seen one anonymous threatening message where he he is accused of being a spy for Germany and accused of ‘stealing like robbers’ and told he deserves to go to prison with Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis.
In a statement, he said he refused to resign as it would get in the way of ”recovering the four pieces of patrimony that was stolen by leaving the museum without leadership in these crucial days.”
The ancient gold helmet was stolen early Saturday by four crooks who blew open the doors to the Drents Museum in Assen, with grainy surveillance footage showing them making off with it and three other gold bracelets in the blink of an eye,
The ancient helmet is revered as one of Romania’s national treasures which experts believe will make it impossible to find a buyer, leaving the crooks to make money off the gold it is made from.
“It is simply unsellable. The whole world knows it,” Dutch art expert Arthur Brand said.“So, they likely went for the gold to — I almost dare not utter the words — melt it,” he said.
The stolen Cotofenesti helmet and accompanying bracelets were on display at the Dutch museum for a six-month exhibition. The heist has left Romanian officials dismayed at Dents museum’s failure to secure such items of cultural significance.
Experts say the helmet is a relic of the ancient Dacia civilization depicting several mythological creatures and a man holding a dagger and appearing to sacrifice a ram.
Investigators said the thieves blasted their way in at around 3:45 a.m. on Saturday, with grainy security footage catching three of the suspects looting the museum in a matter of minutes.
