Chinese villagers fight Dutch art collector in court over Buddha statue containing mummy
XINHUA NEWS
AMSTERDAM --- Chinese villagers are taking a Dutch art collector to court here over ownership of a Buddha statue containing a mummified body. The Buddha statue with an intact mummified body inside was stolen from a temple in 1995 after being worshiped for centuries in the small eastern Chinese village of Yangchun in Fujian Province. The Dutch collector Oscar van Overeem said he collected the 11th-century relic in Hong Kong in 1996, one year after the disappearance of the statue. Missing for two decades, the Buddha statue resurfaced when villagers recognized it at the "Mummy World Exhibition" in Budapest, Hungary. The Dutch collector originally agreed to return it if his conditions were met. [More]
AMSTERDAM --- Chinese villagers are taking a Dutch art collector to court here over ownership of a Buddha statue containing a mummified body. The Buddha statue with an intact mummified body inside was stolen from a temple in 1995 after being worshiped for centuries in the small eastern Chinese village of Yangchun in Fujian Province. The Dutch collector Oscar van Overeem said he collected the 11th-century relic in Hong Kong in 1996, one year after the disappearance of the statue. Missing for two decades, the Buddha statue resurfaced when villagers recognized it at the "Mummy World Exhibition" in Budapest, Hungary. The Dutch collector originally agreed to return it if his conditions were met. [More]