The Chinese claim that the statue was stolen from a Chinese village in 1995. Recently this statue showed at the exhibition in Budapest. Her current owner — Dutch private collector

the Chinese claim that Buddha statue, recently shown at the exhibition in the Hungarian Museum of natural science, was stolen from the village in the Chinese province of Fujian in 1995. The statue caused a sensation when, during the restoration works within it were found the mummified remains of Buddhist monacha@

last Friday, the statue was prematurely withdrawn from the exhibition at the Budapest Museum on request of the Dutch Museum of Drenthe, in which the Buddha showed last year. The representative of Drenthe Museum argues that the statue belongs to a private collector from the Netherlands and that he purchased it legally in 1996. The owner had no idea of what is inside the statue, until he gave it for restoration. Held in February of this year, computed tomography showed inside Mumia@

according to the Chinese Bureau of cultural values (Cultural Relic Bureau), the villagers of Ancun in Fujian province prayed like a Buddha statue with a mummy inside from the XII century. However, in 1995 the statue from the temple disappeared. Representatives of the Bureau conducted an investigation in the village, collected photographs and documents according to which the statue was hidden mummy ancestor of the local kind. It was a monk who treated the locals and preached Buddhism. His name was presumably Zhang Lichuan (Zhang Liquan) and he died at the age of 37 years. His remains approximately 1 100 set@

Bureau of cultural property is currently conducting an investigation regarding the current owner of the statue. It is likely that the next step of the Chinese authorities will demand the return of the statue in City@

Material was prepared by Maria Onuchin, AI

Sources: artnet.com, artinvestment.ru