One of the Catholic Church’s most sacred relics, known as the ‘Precious Blood of Christ’, kept in an elaborate golden shrine, was stolen from the Fécamp Abbey Church in Normandy , France on June 1 this year. This intricately constructed and exquisitely decorated religious object is said to contain two vials of the blood of Jesus Christ, said to have been collected during his crucifixion 2,000 years ago.
There are no clues as to who took this incredibly sacred and valuable object. But just as suddenly as it disappeared, the Precious Blood of Christ reappeared less than a month later, when it was left on the doorstep of a Dutch art detective who specializes in restoring masterpieces of all kinds. stolen work.
Left in safe hands
This story sounds fictional, or at least too good to be true. But that’s nothing out of the ordinary for Arthur Brand, the Dutch art collector and historian who has recovered more than 200 stolen works of art over the past three decades.
Brand has actually been dubbed ‘the Dutch Indiana Jones’ for his ability to track down and recover stolen works of art from various locations in Europe. In this case, however, he didn’t need to do any legwork to restore a precious historical site that many feared might be lost forever.
No investigation needed. The Ark containing the Precious Blood of Christ was delivered to Arthur Brand’s doorstep. (Arthur brand)
Brand said he was contacted about three weeks after the ornate golden temple was stolen by an anonymous representative of the person or persons who took the priceless object.
“This person approached me on behalf of another person, who was storing stolen relics at their home,” Brand told Euronews. “A few days later, at 10:30 p.m., the doorbell rang. I looked from the balcony outside and in the darkness, I saw a box.”
When he opened the box and saw that the temple containing the relics had indeed been returned, Brand was both happy and relieved.
“Seven to eight percent of stolen art is returned and the majority is destroyed,” he explained in an interview with the BBC, emphasizing the the extremely unusual and extremely fortunate nature of this astonishing recovery.
Fécamp Abbey Church in Normandy, France, where the reliquary of the Precious Blood of Christ was stolen. (Arthur brand)
Terrified of a curse?
The sacred Relic of the Precious Blood of Christ actually contains two small tubes of ancient blood, said to have been poured out by Christ before He breathed His last on the Cross. It was taken from Fécamp Monastery just two weeks before this year’s “Holy Blood Mass” celebration, which has drawn pilgrims to the site where the relic of the Precious Blood of Christ has been kept for more than 1,000 years.
Police theorize that the thieves hid in the monastery until it closed, then took the relic along with several other works of art and gold pieces before escaping into the night.
But there was something special about the holy temple that made them think twice about keeping it, and Arthur Brand believes he knows why the thieves brought it back.
“For the ultimate relic, the blood of Jesus in your home to be stolen, that is a curse,” he said. “When they realized what it was and the fact that you couldn’t sell it, they knew they had to get rid of it.”
Brand lives more than 300 miles (480 kilometers) from the monastery in France where the former sanctuary is located. However, the thieves chose to return it to him, perhaps because of his international reputation or perhaps because the criminals were Dutch and lived relatively nearby.
For unexplained reasons, Brand waited until July 12 to publicly announce the recovery, which he did on Twitter. He turned the shrine over to the Dutch authorities after revealing what had happened and the relic will soon be returned to its rightful home at the monastery in Fécamp.
Other items taken during the robbery were returned. (Arthur brand)
Live a life of adventure through art
The restoration of the shrine of the Precious Blood of Christ is just Arthur Brand’s latest success story. During his career as a self-styled art crime investigator, Brand became internationally famous for his uncanny ability to locate stolen art objects in every shape, size and description. He has tapped into many sources on the black market who have tipped him off about where to find specific works, and he is regularly consulted by European police when artworks valuable suddenly goes missing.
Brand often funds his own investigations. He claims that he has recovered works of art worth an estimated £250 million, including more than 200 restored works in total. Among Brand’s most notable finds are a ring stolen from Oxford University that once belonged to Oscar Wilde, a painting by Pablo Picasso stolen from the yacht of the Prince of Saudi Arabia, and a masterpiece by Salvador Dali stolen from a Dutch museum.
Without a doubt, Brand’s most famous achievement was his restoration of Hitler’s Horses, a set of 16-foot (five-meter) bronze statues made for display by Nazi artist Josef Thorak outside the Prime Minister’s Office in 1939. Brand traveled far and wide during that investigation, acting on leads obtained from a number of shady and potentially dangerous sources. During his travels, he frequently impersonated a Texas businessman modeled after J.R. Ewing on the TV show ‘Dallas’ to conceal his true intentions.
This particular investigation began in 2014 and took two years to complete. But Brand eventually recovered the Horse and cemented his reputation as the world’s greatest art detective in the process.
Although he has achieved many thrilling feats, restoring the Cathedral of the Precious Blood has special meaning for Brand.
“As a Catholic, this is the closest thing to Jesus and the Holy Grail legend,” he said, admitting his excitement at being so close to a revered and historically significant artifact. history like that. He described the emotions he felt when he opened the box containing the relics as an “authentic religious experience.”
