A marble bas-relief that纪tells the story of a 62 CE earthquake was discovered in a Belgian village home after a dramatic lapse in a long-running theft saga. Reported by Arkeonews, the artifact’s journey from Pompeii to Belgium unfolds like a modern archaeological thriller, raising questions about how art travels through time, markets, and memory.
Geert de Temmerman, a Belgian resident, decided to sell his house and turned to specialists at the Gallo-Roman Museum in Tongeren to verify the marbles bas-relief’s authenticity. The piece had been brought home by his father during a family trip to Italy years earlier. In 1975, during that same vacation, an unidentified man offered to sell the artifact and vanished with the money as quickly as the transaction began. The family, unaware of the historical significance or potential value, placed the relief on the wall near the stairs that lead to the basement, effectively placing it in a living space rather than a display case or archive room.
When museum staff review instructions and provenance, the owner’s outreach sparked a remarkable turn. The Tongeren experts confirmed the sculpture’s authenticity, dating it to around 62 CE. The bas-relief is a slender carved strip that captures the momentous earthquake that struck Pompeii and surrounding areas in that year, with explicit scenes depicting for example the collapse of the gates at Pompeii. Researchers have since established that the relief was stolen on July 14, 1975, from the banker’s residence where it had hung for generations, a fact that reframes the object as part of a broader story about looted antiquities and their detention in private hands before resurfacing in unexpected places.
Scholars have long debated the paths through which antiquities travel from their original settings to contemporary collectors and institutions. This case illustrates several recurring themes: how families respond to sudden opportunities, how galleries and museums verify authenticity, and how the public’s understanding of a stolen object’s value evolves once it is legally or ethically reintroduced into a recognized collection. The timeline of events—from a casual offer in Pompeii to a careful examination in Tongeren—highlights the role of modern conservation science, provenance research, and the ongoing responsibility of owners to report and rectify gaps in the artifact’s chain of custody. In the broader picture, the bas-relief serves as a tangible reminder of the past’s fragility and its ongoing presence in present-day homes, museums, and conversations about cultural heritage. Previous scientific investigations have also linked the bas-relief to broader astronomical mappings and other historical artworks, illustrating how even a single object can illuminate multiple facets of ancient life and its modern reception.