An exhibition in New York, a million-dollar auction and a trial in Switzerland: the clues that led to two Roman sculptures looted in Spain | Culture

The first time there was evidence of its existence was ten years ago. It was a sculptural couple from the Roman era that represented two bronze girls chasing two birds, made of the same material, which were then exhibited in the Metropolitan Museum of New York, on loan from a private collector. At that time, the National Police only suspected that these pieces, dated between the 1st and 2nd centuries, could be of Spanish origin, the result of plundering. As head of the Historical Heritage Brigade, Montserrat de Pedro knows that the most important thing is to “observe, listen, talk to many people and be in many places.” She and her team always remain attentive to multiple signs. In this case, there were two signs: that exhibition in New York and a complaint in Switzerland in 2018 for fraud and falsification of documents. This last clue was key in the recovery of the two sculptures that were deposited this morning in the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid. But a decade had to pass.

“When a piece is looted,” says De Pedro, those involved let it “sleep for a while.” “So it may be that people forget or – he regrets even more – the crime prescribes.” For these reasons, it is believed that the person responsible for usurping the archaeological site from which the sculptures came – between 2007 and 2008, according to researchers’ estimates – waited 10 years to denounce his cronies, who had “stolen” the works after taking them to the United Kingdom and then to Switzerland with the intention of restoring them, as they told him. But they deceived him and he never had access to them again. After the statute of limitations for the crimes of plunder and money laundering had passed, he reported them to the Swiss justice system in 2018, arguing that they had belonged to his family for decades. The accused were eight people of different nationalities.

According to what he told the Swiss authorities, once the pieces were restored, his “partners” realized that they were looking at a unique set that could be valued at several million euros and decided to close a deal with him to carry out the sale and share the profits. His share of the loot never arrived.

The judicial procedure, which began in 2018 and was reported by the Swiss press, had a special impact on two of those reported by the Spaniard: a 51-year-old Swiss citizen and an 80-year-old Italian, already known to the Historical Heritage Brigade for his relationship with other cases of trafficking in cultural property. “They were dedicated to processing false documentation for export or laundering,” explains Inspector De Pedro to EL PAÍS. “Things generally work like this: if the looted objects are coins, a buckle or fibulae, they are usually easier to place on the market,” continues the agent, “but laundering pieces like these sculptures requires a much larger and more organized network, with contacts outside of Spain.”

“It is not easy to sell two sculptures of this caliber for the money they are worth,” emphasizes the head of the Brigade, making a gesture in quotes when referring to the value of the pieces, because it is more historical than economic. The cronies got it. First they laundered their origin and then introduced them into the legal European art market, until they were put up for auction in 2012. Researchers have not been able to specify the price, but it is estimated that it was several million euros, paid by a private American collector.

The collector then decided to give them to the Metropolitan Museum in New York for temporary display in a private exhibition. The length of time they were exposed is uncertain and “it is unknown when they were removed,” confesses De Pedro. But it was enough to arouse the first suspicions in the Historical Heritage Brigade. The information about the trial in Switzerland prompted them to continue investigating and the evidence provided by the Spanish complainant during the trial against his cronies was definitive in concluding that they came from a Spanish site, located in the south of the Peninsula, although the exact point has not yet been determined: photographs of the bronzes at his home in Spain before they were restored, as well as notarial documents in which family and friends of the complainant attributed ownership of the sculptures to him.

The investigators identified the complainant and, after carrying out various procedures in his surroundings, new data was collected that proved that the sculptures had not belonged to his family for decades, but had been looted. “In this case, all the crimes of all the people we accused were already statute-barred,” says Agent De Pedro. Despite this, the investigation continued with the objective of locating the sculptures and, since the last evidence was in the United States, the collaboration of the National Security Investigations Office was requested, through the American Embassy in Madrid. After the negotiations, they contacted the owner of the sculptures.

The American collector, who assured that he had acquired the figures “in good faith”, once he learned that their origin was an archaeological looting, decided to transfer them irrevocably and free of charge to Spain “without entering into a lawsuit that he would have lost without a doubt,” says the inspector.

Finally, on December 20, the pieces arrived at Madrid Airport from the United States and this Thursday morning they were deposited in the National Archaeological Museum. There, the general director of Cultural Heritage and Fine Arts, Ángeles Albert de León, recalled “the importance of collaboration between institutions in matters of historical heritage.” “The processes are long,” lamented Albert de León, “but sooner or later everything comes to light.” “Every time there is a robbery, they rob us all,” and then he threw a dart at the pirates and traffickers: “The historical heritage is recovered.” The sculptures will be analyzed by experts and it is expected that they can be exhibited at the Archaeological Museum in the second half of the year.

“A year of success”

This recovery puts an end to a “successful year,” said the head of the UDEV Central, José Ángel González, in which the brigade recovered, in 2025, more than 10,000 archaeological objects from different periods and with “enormous economic and historical value.” The highest representative of the National Police present in the event hall highlighted the last operation carried out in which a Visigothic crown was recovered and the site where it was looted was found out. Paintings that had been stolen from Spain by very famous authors, for example the painter Joaquín Sorolla, have also been seized.