A man was stunned when the cops showed up after he decided to have a piece of marble art appraised that turned out to have been looted from Pompeii 50 years ago.
Geert De Temmerman, 53, remembers growing up with the marble piece hanging on the wall of the family home.
He never suspected that it had in fact been stolen from Pompeii in the 1970s.
So when his dad decided to sell the house in Herzele, East Flanders, Belgium, Geert reached out to have the piece of art appraised.
The next thing he knew, the police were knocking on his door.
He explained: “When my father recently decided to sell the house, I wanted to know the value of the piece of marble that has been hanging in the stairwell since I was a child.
“And not much later the police were at the door.”
Geert’s 85-year-old dad Raphael told local media he had also been passionate about other cultures.
Speaking about how the priceless piece from Pompeii came into their possession, Geert said: “It must have been 1975, I was still a very small boy.”
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Raphael said: “During that tour, we visited Pompeii, an ancient city from Roman history that appeals to the imagination.
“To be honest, we mainly saw a lot of rubble there. During the excursion, I noticed that we were being followed by a man with a brown burlap bag. From the way he walked, I could tell that the contents of the bag must be quite heavy.”
He added: “A man with a heavy burlap bag spoke to us. He showed us his merchandise and kept repeating ‘money, money’. The bag contained scenes in stone, perhaps marble. And I really wanted a souvenir from Pompeii.”
Raphael went on: “As soon as we left the place, the man spoke to us. He showed us his merchandise and kept repeating ‘money, money’. The bag contained scenes in stone, perhaps marble. I wanted a souvenir from Pompeii and I accepted his proposal.
“It was clear that the man wanted to get rid of his stones quickly. I really don’t remember how much we paid. But it was quite a lot: we put all our liras together to buy it. I was interested in the souvenir: I never wondered about its origin.
“I don’t remember how we got back to Belgium, but we didn’t go by plane. I think we made the trip to Italy by bus.”
Back in Belgium, the four pieces of marble were integrated into the home.
Geert said: “To be honest, we didn’t pay much attention to it in the years that followed.
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“There have been parties here at home, a lot of guests have come over, but no one has said anything about it.”
But when it came time to sell the house, Geert wanted to know if the pieces were genuine, so he called up a museum and they sent experts over.
Geert said: “I contacted the Gallo-Roman museum in Tongeren, asking whether we had something authentic hanging or not. I sent some photos in the attachment. Not much later, two specialists came to our home to take a look. I heard them whisper to each other, ‘It’s authentic!’
“I asked them if they were interested in purchasing it, but was told they weren’t allowed to. Anyway, I didn’t want to just give it away either.
“The next day the doorbell rang and the police were there with a search warrant. We didn’t see that coming at all. Today they came again to draw up a report.”
The artefact is of priceless historical value and was stolen on 14th July 1975, according to Belgian media.
It was reportedly taken from the house of L. Caecilius Iucundus in Pompeii and most likely depicts the earthquake that struck the city in 62 AD.
Geert said: “The judicial police have left us some documents describing those details.
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“It’s crazy to think that tourists have been looking at a replica all this time, while the original has been hanging here all this time.
“Will we still get money for this? I put that out of my mind, as it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We may still be entitled to compensation because in the end, we looked after it well.”
The Belgian authorities are in touch with their Italian counterparts.
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