Saint Mark mosaic, missing for decades, returns to Cyprus

[TomSea]

Saint Mark mosaic, missing for decades, returns to Cyprus
The priceless sixth-century artifact, looted in a Turkish invasion, was found after a two-year chase across Europe.

Dutch art detective Arthur Brand found the mosaic, which was in the possession of a British couple [Jan Hennop/AFP]

One of the last missing pieces of Byzantine art stolen from Cyprus in the 1970s has been handed back to the country by a renowned Dutch art investigator.

The investigator, Arthur Brand, said on Friday that he handed back the sixth-century depiction of Saint Mark during a private ceremony at the Cypriot embassy in The Hague.

For Brand, dubbed the "Indiana Jones of the art world" because of his exploits to recover stolen works, the handover was a high point in his lifelong interest in the Byzantine saint, and the result of a nearly two-year chase across Europe.

Read more at: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/11/saint-mark-mosaic-missing-decades-returns-cyprus-181118133548230.html