Qarun Treasure
Encyclopedia
Karun Treasure is the name given to a collection of 363 valuable Lydia
n artifacts dating from the 7th century BC and originating from Uşak Province
in western Turkey, which were the subject of a legal battle between Turkey
and New York Metropolitan Museum of Art between 1987–1993 and which were returned to Turkey in 1993 after the Museum admitted it had known the objects were stolen when they had purchased them. The collection is alternatively known as the Lydian Hoard. The items are exhibited in the Uşak Museum of Archaeology
.
The collection made sensational news once again in May 2006 when a key piece, a golden hippocamp
, on display in Uşak
Museum along with the rest of the collection, was discovered to have been switched with a fake
, probably between March and August 2005,
Yet another term used for the collection is "Croesus Treasure". Although the artifacts are closely contemporary to Croesus, whether they should be directly associated with the legendary Lydian king or not remains debatable. Croesus' wealth had repercussions on a number of Asia
n cultures in a vein similar to his fame in the western cultures, and is referred to either as Qarun (Arabic
) or Karun (Turkish
), with the mythical proportions of his fortune also echoed in various ways, parallel to the English language
expression "as rich as Croesus". This explains why the term "Karun Treasure" took hold, and in any case, the king Croesus' Treasure consisted of more than 363 pieces and the tomb chamber tumulus
where most artifacts were discovered (they originate from close but different sites) was that of a woman.
d the roof of the tomb in the night of 6 June 1966, to be the first to see the breathtaking sight of the buried Lydian noblewoman and her treasures after 2600 years. The treasure looted from this particular tomb was enriched by further finds by the same men in other tumuli of the locality during 1966-1967, and the collection was smuggled outside Turkey in separate dispatches through İzmir
and Amsterdam
, to be bought by the Metropolitan Museum of Art
between 1967–1968, at an invoiced cost of 1,2 million US Dollars for 200 of the pieces within the collection.
and had informed Turkey's Ministry of Culture of their clear provenance, while he also wrote several articles and pursued the bureaucratic channels within Turkey with insistence throughout the affair. He acted as a voluntary envoy of the Ministry within the frame of the judicial case launched in New York City
in 1987 and brought to conclusion in 1993, at the same time as he was named consultant
in the larger framework of the Turkey's participation in the work carried out by UNIDROIT
regarding the protection of historic, cultural and religious heritage. Acar's name is also synonymous in Turkey for the retrieval of another set of smuggled archaeological goods, termed "Elmalı Treasure" in reference to their site of origin, the town of Elmalı
in southwestern Turkey, and involving this time Lydian
coins and extremely rare decadrachms dating from the period of the Delian League
, with the Boston Museum of Fine Arts as his opposite party.
private gallery for which attempts for retrieval were yet to be made, a handsome collection of base consisting of a total of 375 pieces was already accumulated. But the small museum in Uşak
where the collection was placed, more focused on storage of Ushak carpet
s and operating under conditions of budgetary and staff restraints, did not fully meet the requirements for the preservation of Karun Treasure. Doubts about the site's suitability were reinforced by the filing of currently unresolved legal action against museum staff regarding the 2007 theft. The museum's former director remains the only person to be still kept in custody among the ten initially accused in the frame of the case around the hippocamp's replacement with a fake.
. None of the villagers who took part in the 1960s digs, and who were kept under arrest for a brief period at the time, lived the rest of their days in happy notes. Five out of the seven involved died before their sixties, some in great sufferings, one vanished while his son committed suicide after his disappearance, and the seventh, the only surviving member of the team, was blinded. Some speculate that the malediction
could have also reached the museum director and perhaps further.
Lydia
Lydia was an Iron Age kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the modern Turkish provinces of Manisa and inland İzmir. Its population spoke an Anatolian language known as Lydian....
n artifacts dating from the 7th century BC and originating from Uşak Province
Usak Province
Uşak is a province in western Turkey. Its adjacent provinces are Manisa to the west, Denizli to the south, Afyon to the east, and Kütahya to the north. The provincial capital is Uşak, and its traffic code is 64. The province covers an area of 5,341 km² and has a population of 335,860...
in western Turkey, which were the subject of a legal battle between Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
and New York Metropolitan Museum of Art between 1987–1993 and which were returned to Turkey in 1993 after the Museum admitted it had known the objects were stolen when they had purchased them. The collection is alternatively known as the Lydian Hoard. The items are exhibited in the Uşak Museum of Archaeology
Uşak Museum of Archaeology
The Uşak Museum of Archaeology is an archaeological museum in Uşak in western Turkey. Founded on May 23, 1970, the museum is best known for its exhibitions of Karun treasure....
.
The collection made sensational news once again in May 2006 when a key piece, a golden hippocamp
Hippocamp
The hippocamp or hippocampus , often called a sea-horse in English, is a mythological creature shared by Phoenician and Greek mythology, though the name by which it is recognised is purely Greek; it became part of Etruscan mythology...
, on display in Uşak
Usak
Uşak is a city in the interior part of the Aegean Region of Turkey. The city has a population of 180,414 and is the capital of Uşak Province. The mayor is Ali Erdoğan ....
Museum along with the rest of the collection, was discovered to have been switched with a fake
Fake
Fake means not real.Fake may also refer to:In music:* Fake , a Swedish synthpop band active in the 1980s*Fake?, a Japanese rock band* Fake , 2010 song by Ai featuring Namie Amuro...
, probably between March and August 2005,
Yet another term used for the collection is "Croesus Treasure". Although the artifacts are closely contemporary to Croesus, whether they should be directly associated with the legendary Lydian king or not remains debatable. Croesus' wealth had repercussions on a number of Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
n cultures in a vein similar to his fame in the western cultures, and is referred to either as Qarun (Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
) or Karun (Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
), with the mythical proportions of his fortune also echoed in various ways, parallel to the English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
expression "as rich as Croesus". This explains why the term "Karun Treasure" took hold, and in any case, the king Croesus' Treasure consisted of more than 363 pieces and the tomb chamber tumulus
Tumulus
A tumulus is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, Hügelgrab or kurgans, and can be found throughout much of the world. A tumulus composed largely or entirely of stones is usually referred to as a cairn...
where most artifacts were discovered (they originate from close but different sites) was that of a woman.
Discovery and smuggling
The main and the most precious part of the treasure comes from a tomb chamber of a Lydian princess reached through illegal excavations carried out by three fortune-seekers from Uşak's depending Güre village, at the proximity of which the tomb was located, at the locality called Toptepe. After having dug for days and unable to break through the marble masonry of the chamber door, they had dynamiteDynamite
Dynamite is an explosive material based on nitroglycerin, initially using diatomaceous earth , or another absorbent substance such as powdered shells, clay, sawdust, or wood pulp. Dynamites using organic materials such as sawdust are less stable and such use has been generally discontinued...
d the roof of the tomb in the night of 6 June 1966, to be the first to see the breathtaking sight of the buried Lydian noblewoman and her treasures after 2600 years. The treasure looted from this particular tomb was enriched by further finds by the same men in other tumuli of the locality during 1966-1967, and the collection was smuggled outside Turkey in separate dispatches through İzmir
Izmir
Izmir is a large metropolis in the western extremity of Anatolia. The metropolitan area in the entire Izmir Province had a population of 3.35 million as of 2010, making the city third most populous in Turkey...
and Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, to be bought by the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
between 1967–1968, at an invoiced cost of 1,2 million US Dollars for 200 of the pieces within the collection.
Legal battle
The efforts made by successive Turkish governments to retrieve the collection were incited since the very beginning and followed until conclusion by the journalist Özgen Acar. Acar had chanced upon some pieces of the collection for the first time in 1984 in a Met Museum catalogueCollection catalog
In museums and archives, the collection of objects or material is normally catalogued in a collection catalog . Traditionally this was done using a card index, but nowadays it is normally implemented using a computerized database and may even be made available online.- External links :* from the...
and had informed Turkey's Ministry of Culture of their clear provenance, while he also wrote several articles and pursued the bureaucratic channels within Turkey with insistence throughout the affair. He acted as a voluntary envoy of the Ministry within the frame of the judicial case launched in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in 1987 and brought to conclusion in 1993, at the same time as he was named consultant
Consultant
A consultant is a professional who provides professional or expert advice in a particular area such as management, accountancy, the environment, entertainment, technology, law , human resources, marketing, emergency management, food production, medicine, finance, life management, economics, public...
in the larger framework of the Turkey's participation in the work carried out by UNIDROIT
UNIDROIT
The International Institute for the Unification of Private Law, also known as UNIDROIT, is an independent intergovernmental Organisation based in Rome, Italy...
regarding the protection of historic, cultural and religious heritage. Acar's name is also synonymous in Turkey for the retrieval of another set of smuggled archaeological goods, termed "Elmalı Treasure" in reference to their site of origin, the town of Elmalı
Elmali
Elmalı is a town and district in Antalya Province, the Mediterranean region of Turkey. It lies about inland, near the town of Korkuteli and west of the city of Antalya...
in southwestern Turkey, and involving this time Lydian
Lydian
Lydian may refer to:* Lydian language, an ancient Anatolian language* Lydian script* Lydian mode, one of the modes derived from ancient Greek music* Lydian , a decorative typeface* Lydia, an ancient kingdom in western Anatolia...
coins and extremely rare decadrachms dating from the period of the Delian League
Delian League
The Delian League, founded in circa 477 BC, was an association of Greek city-states, members numbering between 150 to 173, under the leadership of Athens, whose purpose was to continue fighting the Persian Empire after the Greek victory in the Battle of Plataea at the end of the Greco–Persian Wars...
, with the Boston Museum of Fine Arts as his opposite party.
Uşak Museum case
The clear need for a museum worthy of the treasure was being voiced ever since the artifacts had returned to Turkey. With the seizure by the authorities of ten other illegally excavated artifacts in 1998, further archaeological discoveries and the known presence of eight gold pieces that had appeared in 2000 during an exhibition in a ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
private gallery for which attempts for retrieval were yet to be made, a handsome collection of base consisting of a total of 375 pieces was already accumulated. But the small museum in Uşak
Usak
Uşak is a city in the interior part of the Aegean Region of Turkey. The city has a population of 180,414 and is the capital of Uşak Province. The mayor is Ali Erdoğan ....
where the collection was placed, more focused on storage of Ushak carpet
Ushak Carpet
Uşak carpets, Ushak carpets or Oushak Carpets are Turkish carpets that use a particular family of designs, called by convention after the city of Uşak, Turkey – one of the larger towns in Western Anatolia, which was a major center of rug production from the early days of the Ottoman Empire,...
s and operating under conditions of budgetary and staff restraints, did not fully meet the requirements for the preservation of Karun Treasure. Doubts about the site's suitability were reinforced by the filing of currently unresolved legal action against museum staff regarding the 2007 theft. The museum's former director remains the only person to be still kept in custody among the ten initially accused in the frame of the case around the hippocamp's replacement with a fake.
Curse of the treasure
Some in Uşak and beyond associate the treasure with a curseCurse
A curse is any expressed wish that some form of adversity or misfortune will befall or attach to some other entity—one or more persons, a place, or an object...
. None of the villagers who took part in the 1960s digs, and who were kept under arrest for a brief period at the time, lived the rest of their days in happy notes. Five out of the seven involved died before their sixties, some in great sufferings, one vanished while his son committed suicide after his disappearance, and the seventh, the only surviving member of the team, was blinded. Some speculate that the malediction
Malediction
Malediction is any expressed wish that some form of adversity or unhappiness will befall another person or persons, a magical phrase or word uttered with the intention of bringing about evilMalediction may also refer to:...
could have also reached the museum director and perhaps further.