Brandmeister:
[[File:Durer, Albrecht - Women's Bath.jpg|thumb|''Women's Bathhouse'' by Dürer, at the time housed in the National Art Museum of Azerbaijan]]
In July 1993, a total of 304 artworks were stolen from the [[National Art Museum of Azerbaijan]] in [[Baku]]. They included 274 large artworks and 30 medieval [[Miniature (illuminated manuscript)|miniature]]s.<ref name="azadliq">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> The most valuable of them was ''Women's Bathhouse'' by [[Albrecht Dürer]], valued at about $10 million.<ref name="nyt">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> Other stolen artworks were executed by [[Rembrandt]], [[Anthony van Dyck]], [[Nicolas Poussin]], [[Jacob van Ruisdael]] and [[Jean-François Millet]], among others.<ref name="azadliq"/><ref name="nyt"/> The artworks were later recovered and returned. Of them, 12 or 14 were returned to their original place of display, the [[Kunsthalle Bremen]] in Germany.
==Background==
The artworks that were returned to Bremen had been acquired by the Kunsthalle Bremen between 1820 and 1860.<ref name="nyt"/> In 1943, during [[World War II]], the artworks were among 1,520 treasures moved for safekeeping to Karnzow Castle.<ref name="nyt"/> After advancing Soviet troops had occupied the castle, the drawings disappeared.<ref name="nyt"/> According to Paul J. Browne, former senior adviser in the [[US Customs Service]]'s office of investigation, the [[KGB]] transferred the drawings to the National Art Museum of Azerbaijan.<ref name="nyt"/> In 1993 the National Art Museum announced plans to display the drawings, prompting the Germans who then asked for their return. Azerbaijan and Germany started a repatriation discussion, when the theft took place in July 1993.<ref name="nyt"/>
==Theft==
In 1995 [[Aydin Ibrahimov]], an Azerbaijani Olympic wrestler, his former wife, Natavan Aleskerova, and former Japanese wrestler Masatsugu Koga met at a Chinese restaurant in the [[Swissôtel]] in [[Istanbul]] to plot the ransoming of the works to the Germans.<ref name="nyt"/>
Subsequent circumstances of the theft were described by Ziyadkhan Aliyev, then Head of the Western European and Russian Art Department of the museum. According to him, the museum's director Tebrik Gasymova gave a key to the museum's Graphics Fund to the museum employee Jabrayil Babayev.<ref name="azadliq"/> Babayev opened it, collected the drawings from the fund and took them to the house of the museum's director.<ref name="azadliq"/> The next day, Babayev took the artworks to the [[Ministry of Culture (Azerbaijan)|Azerbaijani Ministry of Culture]], room no. 325.<ref name="azadliq"/> The room housed the Department of Cooperation with Museums and Libraries, headed by Karim Tahirov at the time.<ref name="azadliq"/> However, Babayev in his testimony did not specify the person who received the artworks from him.<ref name="azadliq"/> The artworks then were taken away from Azerbaijan and brought to the United States. Ziyadkhan Aliyev accused the museum employees of the theft.<ref name="azadliq"/>
Investigative authorities were initially told that the stolen artworks have little value.<ref name="azadliq"/> To determine whether they are authentic or forgeries, then-Minister of Culture [[Polad Bulbuloglu]] organized a four-person expert commission, without the knowledge of investigative authorities.<ref name="azadliq"/> The commission included two [[Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage|art conservators]], Natig Safarov and Gulshen Hajiyeva.<ref name="azadliq"/> The experts stated that the stolen artworks do not have museum value, but the art conservators were more cautious, stating that the final conclusion could be reached only after a physical and chemical examination.<ref name="azadliq"/> Despite that, the opinion of two other experts prevailed which was reflected in the final conclusion that the stolen artworks are of no museum value. This opinion was announced on television by Polad Bulbuloglu.<ref name="azadliq"/>
==Recovery and arrests==
According to Ziyadkhan Aliyev, the Azerbaijani law enforcement got on the track of the perpetrators relatively quickly, within about a week.<ref name="azadliq"/>
In the summer of 1997, Koga entered the German embassy in [[Tokyo]] showing photographs of the stolen drawings, which he described as family heirlooms, and offered to sell them back for $12 million.<ref name="nyt"/> When the Germans told Koga that the drawings he was trying to sell had been stolen, he said they were not heirlooms after all and dropped the asking price to $6 million, which he said he needed for a kidney transplant.<ref name="nyt"/> Still being declined, he left.<ref name="nyt"/>
In September 1997, in the [[Grand Hyatt]] hotel in New York, Koga met with Anne Rover-Kann, curator of the Kunsthalle Bremen, and a US Customs [[undercover]] agent posing as her associate.<ref name="nyt"/> When Koga showed the Dürer and Rembrandt drawings from a plain manila envelope, he was arrested.<ref name="nyt"/>
In October, Aleskerova, apparently learning of the arrest and concerned about the rest of the art, flew to New York, where she was stopped at [[John F. Kennedy International Airport]] until Customs agents could assemble a surveillance team.<ref name="nyt"/> However, she was picked up by her son from a previous marriage, then a student at New York University.<ref name="nyt"/> According to US Customs, a pursuit ensued, where Aleskerova's son drove so erratically that agents had to pull them over.<ref name="nyt"/> Aleskerova was arrested, while her son was released.<ref name="nyt"/> Aleskerova was tried and convicted in June 1999 for her involvement in the ransom plot.<ref name="nyt"/>
The remaining missing artworks works from the National Art Museum of Azerbaijan were later retrieved from the closet and the bed of an apartment at 540 [[Ocean Parkway (Brooklyn)|Ocean Parkway]] in New York, the home of another Azerbaijani wrestler.<ref name="nyt"/> According to US Customs, he appeared to have no knowledge of the plot but was doing a favor for Ibragimov.<ref name="nyt"/>
==References==
[[Category:1993 in Azerbaijan]]
[[Category:20th century in Baku]]
[[Category:Art crime]]
[[Category:Individual thefts]]
In July 1993, a total of 304 artworks were stolen from the [[National Art Museum of Azerbaijan]] in [[Baku]]. They included 274 large artworks and 30 medieval [[Miniature (illuminated manuscript)|miniature]]s.<ref name="azadliq">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> The most valuable of them was ''Women's Bathhouse'' by [[Albrecht Dürer]], valued at about $10 million.<ref name="nyt">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> Other stolen artworks were executed by [[Rembrandt]], [[Anthony van Dyck]], [[Nicolas Poussin]], [[Jacob van Ruisdael]] and [[Jean-François Millet]], among others.<ref name="azadliq"/><ref name="nyt"/> The artworks were later recovered and returned. Of them, 12 or 14 were returned to their original place of display, the [[Kunsthalle Bremen]] in Germany.
==Background==
The artworks that were returned to Bremen had been acquired by the Kunsthalle Bremen between 1820 and 1860.<ref name="nyt"/> In 1943, during [[World War II]], the artworks were among 1,520 treasures moved for safekeeping to Karnzow Castle.<ref name="nyt"/> After advancing Soviet troops had occupied the castle, the drawings disappeared.<ref name="nyt"/> According to Paul J. Browne, former senior adviser in the [[US Customs Service]]'s office of investigation, the [[KGB]] transferred the drawings to the National Art Museum of Azerbaijan.<ref name="nyt"/> In 1993 the National Art Museum announced plans to display the drawings, prompting the Germans who then asked for their return. Azerbaijan and Germany started a repatriation discussion, when the theft took place in July 1993.<ref name="nyt"/>
==Theft==
In 1995 [[Aydin Ibrahimov]], an Azerbaijani Olympic wrestler, his former wife, Natavan Aleskerova, and former Japanese wrestler Masatsugu Koga met at a Chinese restaurant in the [[Swissôtel]] in [[Istanbul]] to plot the ransoming of the works to the Germans.<ref name="nyt"/>
Subsequent circumstances of the theft were described by Ziyadkhan Aliyev, then Head of the Western European and Russian Art Department of the museum. According to him, the museum's director Tebrik Gasymova gave a key to the museum's Graphics Fund to the museum employee Jabrayil Babayev.<ref name="azadliq"/> Babayev opened it, collected the drawings from the fund and took them to the house of the museum's director.<ref name="azadliq"/> The next day, Babayev took the artworks to the [[Ministry of Culture (Azerbaijan)|Azerbaijani Ministry of Culture]], room no. 325.<ref name="azadliq"/> The room housed the Department of Cooperation with Museums and Libraries, headed by Karim Tahirov at the time.<ref name="azadliq"/> However, Babayev in his testimony did not specify the person who received the artworks from him.<ref name="azadliq"/> The artworks then were taken away from Azerbaijan and brought to the United States. Ziyadkhan Aliyev accused the museum employees of the theft.<ref name="azadliq"/>
Investigative authorities were initially told that the stolen artworks have little value.<ref name="azadliq"/> To determine whether they are authentic or forgeries, then-Minister of Culture [[Polad Bulbuloglu]] organized a four-person expert commission, without the knowledge of investigative authorities.<ref name="azadliq"/> The commission included two [[Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage|art conservators]], Natig Safarov and Gulshen Hajiyeva.<ref name="azadliq"/> The experts stated that the stolen artworks do not have museum value, but the art conservators were more cautious, stating that the final conclusion could be reached only after a physical and chemical examination.<ref name="azadliq"/> Despite that, the opinion of two other experts prevailed which was reflected in the final conclusion that the stolen artworks are of no museum value. This opinion was announced on television by Polad Bulbuloglu.<ref name="azadliq"/>
==Recovery and arrests==
According to Ziyadkhan Aliyev, the Azerbaijani law enforcement got on the track of the perpetrators relatively quickly, within about a week.<ref name="azadliq"/>
In the summer of 1997, Koga entered the German embassy in [[Tokyo]] showing photographs of the stolen drawings, which he described as family heirlooms, and offered to sell them back for $12 million.<ref name="nyt"/> When the Germans told Koga that the drawings he was trying to sell had been stolen, he said they were not heirlooms after all and dropped the asking price to $6 million, which he said he needed for a kidney transplant.<ref name="nyt"/> Still being declined, he left.<ref name="nyt"/>
In September 1997, in the [[Grand Hyatt]] hotel in New York, Koga met with Anne Rover-Kann, curator of the Kunsthalle Bremen, and a US Customs [[undercover]] agent posing as her associate.<ref name="nyt"/> When Koga showed the Dürer and Rembrandt drawings from a plain manila envelope, he was arrested.<ref name="nyt"/>
In October, Aleskerova, apparently learning of the arrest and concerned about the rest of the art, flew to New York, where she was stopped at [[John F. Kennedy International Airport]] until Customs agents could assemble a surveillance team.<ref name="nyt"/> However, she was picked up by her son from a previous marriage, then a student at New York University.<ref name="nyt"/> According to US Customs, a pursuit ensued, where Aleskerova's son drove so erratically that agents had to pull them over.<ref name="nyt"/> Aleskerova was arrested, while her son was released.<ref name="nyt"/> Aleskerova was tried and convicted in June 1999 for her involvement in the ransom plot.<ref name="nyt"/>
The remaining missing artworks works from the National Art Museum of Azerbaijan were later retrieved from the closet and the bed of an apartment at 540 [[Ocean Parkway (Brooklyn)|Ocean Parkway]] in New York, the home of another Azerbaijani wrestler.<ref name="nyt"/> According to US Customs, he appeared to have no knowledge of the plot but was doing a favor for Ibragimov.<ref name="nyt"/>
==References==
[[Category:1993 in Azerbaijan]]
[[Category:20th century in Baku]]
[[Category:Art crime]]
[[Category:Individual thefts]]
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