Italy returns to Croatia a 17th century book stolen more than 30 years ago

Italy is again demonstrating its commitment to returning stolen works to their rightful owners by returning to Croatia an important 17th-century book that had been stolen from the University Library in Zagreb more than 30 years ago, in 1997. The volume is a 17th-century treatise on theobservation of the moon, titled Hevelii Johannis Selenographia: it dates from 1647 and is a work by the Polish astronomer Jan Heweliusz (Danzia, 1611 - 1687), Latinized as Johannis Hevelius. It is also a valuable book because of its rich iconography, with precise illustrations of the moon that were being published a few decades after Galileo Galilei’s studies.

The return ceremony was held yesterday at the Embassy of the Republic of Croatia in Italy: in attendance were Brigadier General Fabrizio Parrulli, commander of the Carabinieri’s Cultural Heritage Protection Unit, and Croatian Ambassador Jasen Mesic. The book was in the hands of a fence residing in the province of Frosinone and was part of a group of books seized by Carabinieri of the Cultural Heritage Protection Unit in Naples as part of an investigation aimed at identifying fences of goods proceeds from thefts from state libraries and domestic and foreign religious institutions. The investigation made it possible to reconstruct the path of this and several other books: from theft to marketing in antiquarian markets in the province of Rome (especially in the Porta Portese market) and also through various Internet platforms, dedicated to the sale of antique books.

The investigators, proceeding with a comparative analysis of the images of the recovered good and with those registered in the Data Bank of illicitly stolen cultural goods (the world’s largest database of stolen works of art), immediately identified the book, the theft of which, reported moreover by the Croatian authorities to Italy (complete with all the identifying elements of the work), was registered and made it the object of research. Thus, thanks to the information in the database, even more than 30 years later, Heweliusz’s treatise, which was thought to be lost, will finally make its way home.

Italy returns to Croatia a 17th century book stolen more than 30 years ago

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