Dutch City Celebrates As Stolen Masterpieces Return Home

HOORN, Netherlands, , (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 07th Oct, 2016 ) - The Dutch city of Hoorn erupted with joy Friday as it welcomed back five masterpieces recovered from a criminal gang in Ukraine after being snatched from the town's museum in 2005.

"After 4,320 days... yes we counted the days... they are back!" an emotional museum director Ad Geerdink told hundreds of citizens who gathered at the Westfries Museum as the 17th and 18th-century paintings were unloaded from a truck.

"Our heritage has returned to the museum where they belong, back in the city where they belong," Geerdink said as the crowd cheered and clapped. The five paintings were among 24 Dutch Golden Age masterpieces and 70 pieces of silverware stolen from the museum in the northwest city on January 9, 2005.

At the time of their disappearance, the 24 paintings were valued at a total of 10 million Euros ($11 million). One of the recovered works, Isaak Ouwater's 1784 piece entitled "Nieuwstraat in Hoorn", valued at around 30,000 euros ($33,400), was handed back by an unsuspecting Ukrainian art buyer in May.

But details over how the painting came into his possession remain vague. The four other retrieved paintings, which were also found in Ukraine, are: "A Peasant Wedding" by Hendrick Boogaert, "Kitchen Scene" by Floris van Schooten, "Return of Jephta" and "Lady World" by Jacob Waben.