Fourteen months after a heist from a Dutch museum, officials on Thursday announced the return of an ancient golden helmet and two golden bracelets.
At a news conference, officials in Assen, the Netherlands, lifted a blue sheet from a plinth — flanked by heavily armed police officers in balaclavas — to reveal three Romanian treasures: the golden helmet of Cotofenesti and two golden bracelets. A third bracelet, also stolen in the heist at the Drents Museum, is still missing.
“These art objects are invaluable,” said Corien Fahner, a chief prosecutor for the North Netherlands Public Prosecution Service. The helmet, which dates from the fifth century B.C., was made by the Dacian people who inhabited parts of the Balkans in antiquity.
To get the objects back, prosecutors made an agreement with the people accused of stealing them. The specifics of the agreement were unclear on Thursday, and Ms. Fahner declined to comment on them in detail at the news conference. One of the conditions, she said, was the safe return of the objects before the start of a trial this month.
The helmet sustained some light damage, said Robert van Langh, the general director of the Drents Museum. But, Mr. van Langh said, “I can confidently say it can be fully restored, with no permanent damage to the helmet.” The bracelets were in perfect condition, he said.
The robbery happened in the early hours of Jan. 25, 2025, when three hooded people used explosives to break into the Drents Museum. Less than a week later, the Dutch police arrested three people in connection with the crime.
The police said at the time that the explosion was part of an elaborate effort to break into the museum and steal some of its treasures, including the helmet and bracelets, which were on loan from Romania. The artifacts will be returned to Romania as soon as possible, officials said.
The golden helmet of Cotofenesti, named after the village where it was found, is an elaborately decorated, solid-gold headpiece from the fifth century B.C. The helmet, which weighs a little over two pounds, features large studs across the top of the head and depicts scenes including the sacrifice of a lamb.
“We can hardly imagine what this must feel like in Romania,” Mr. van Langh, the museum director, said. When they were stolen, the items had been on display since July 2024 as part of a traveling exhibition from the National History Museum of Romania.
The helmet is well known in Romania and is believed to have been used in ceremonies by the Dacians, who were conquered by the Roman Empire.
The National Museum of History of Romania received an insurance payout of 5.7 million euros (about $6.6 million) for the four stolen artifacts, the Romanian culture ministry announced in September.
“It has been a difficult period after an event that had a major impact in Romania,” Rares Petru Stan, a Romanian prosecutor, said on Thursday. “We are continuing the investigation to find the last bracelet, and we are grateful that we will be able to return this treasure to the Romanian people.”
Claire Moses is a Times reporter in London, focused on coverage of breaking and trending news.
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