The official investigation in the Netherlands showed that 46 works of art, which Maakhorst municipality in Brabant lost last year, were involved in “probably” waste.
One of the edition of Queen Beatrix, which is part of the royal series of Andy Warhol 1985 – a series of 16 rare pressures of four rulers: Elizabeth II of the Netherlands, Margret II from the Netherlands and Ntobi Twal from Danish and Nitby, Margret II, is.
These and other works of art, worth about 22 thousand euros, will probably disappear forever.
The work belonged to the municipality of Uden, one of the municipalities united with the new municipality of Maakhorst in 2022.
Before the merger, a map of the Uden art collection was released. Some of the works of art were borrowed into the Crohn Museum in Uden, some were exhibited in the new town hall, and some were returned to artists.
In November, it turned out that about 50 works of art were known. The municipality reported this problem of the police and called on a research agency to help find lost work.
After a comprehensive study and exam, the agency concluded that 46 works of art were mainly thrown into garbage, which was already suspected of this possibility.
The study came to the conclusion that during the repair of the town hall the works of art were hidden in the basement and were not used diligently.
For example, works of art remained unprotected, moved several times, and even several works were damaged by water from the leakage in 2023. Then works of art were sent to a voluminous waste tank at different times.
According to researchers, municipal artifacts overlooked the work of art, since there was no clear policy or protocol during the reconstruction. In particular, there was no guide for recording, storing, protecting and safety of work.
In addition, it was never clearly determined which work was responsible. When the works of art disappeared, the study also showed that the municipality cannot quickly respond.
Analyzing the results of the investigation conducted by a research agency, the municipality admitted that there is no hope or not at all.