Illicit Antiquities
Research Centre
against the theft & traffic
of archaeology

Cyprus mosaics

Peter Watson

McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research
Downing Street
Cambridge
CB2 3ER

Culture Without Context

Issue 3,
Autumn 1998

It now looks as though Michel van Rijn will not give evidence in the case of Aydin Dikmen.  Van Rijn was the Dutch art dealer who masterminded the 'sting' in October 1997 which led to the arrest of Dikmen, a Turkish dealer living in Munich, and the recovery of several frescoes, mosaics and icons looted from churches in Cyprus after the invasion of the Turks in 1974.  Van Rijn is currently living under police protection at an undisclosed address in London, and has reportedly received death threats from unspecified sources, but he has settled his differences with the Republic of Cyprus and the Autocephalous Church of Cyprus over the fee he had charged for his part of the recovery.

For obvious reasons van Rijn is not anxious to give evidence against the Turk who, if convicted, faces up to fifteen years in prison.  However, van Rijn has made available to the Cypriot authorities (who are seeking the extradition of Dikmen to Cyprus, where he will face additional charges) a fake mosaic of St Andreas which van Rijn says Dikmen sold to him.  Van Rijn had been holding this back as a bargaining ploy with the Cypriot authorities, because under German law the sale of fake goods is a very serious but quite separate offence from handling stolen material.  This means that, in theory at least, Dikmen faces an even longer sentence if found guilty.

The existence of the fake St Andreas also implies that the real mosaic is still missing.  The Cypriots are being kept guessing as to whether the real version is still owned by Dikmen or is in van Rijn's possession.  Either way, it appears that although three addresses belonging to Dikmen have already yielded 50-60 crates of material, containing 139 icons, 61 frescoes and four mosaics, valued at around $40 million, still more material could come to light, given the right circumstances.  (An estimated 15,000-20,000 icons and several dozen frescoes and mosaics disappeared after the invasion).

As this issue of Culture Without Context went to press, it was reported that lawyers for Dikmen were trying to negotiate a deal with the various authorities.   This, presumably, would involve a shorter, or non-custodial sentence for Dikmen, in return for the handing over of more material.  The case of the Kanakariá mosaics is still far from complete.

First posted March 1999; Page design updated September 2006