２０年以上隠し続けた１８世紀の冠　エチオピアに返還へ

【ロッテルダムＡＦＰ＝時事】オランダに定住した元エチオピア難民の男性が、18世紀に作られたエチオピア伝統の貴重な冠を21年間、自宅アパートに隠し持っていたことが明らかになった。今後、オランダからエチオピアに返還される予定だという。（写真はオランダで18世紀のエチオピアの冠（中央）を保管していた元難民のシラク・アスファウさん（左）と美術調査員アーサー・ブランドさん）
　金銅でできたこの冠にはキリストと１２人の使徒の姿が刻まれ、凝った装飾が施されている。元難民で現在はオランダ国籍をもつシラク・アスファウさんがオランダ人の美術調査員アーサー・ブランド氏に連絡を取ったことをきっかけに「発見」された。
　行方の分からなくなった数々の美術品を取り戻した実績から「美術界のインディ・ジョーンズ」の異名をとるブランド氏は、冠は現在安全な場所に保管されており、近くエチオピア当局へ返還されると話した。
　この間の経緯について、シラクさんはオランダ沿岸部ロッテルダムの自宅アパートでＡＦＰの取材に応えた。
　現在は経営コンサルタントとしてオランダ政府の仕事をするシラクさんは１９７０年代後半、エチオピアで起きていた「赤い恐怖」と呼ばれる粛清から逃げ出した。そしてオランダに落ち着いたシラクさんは、パイロットや外交官をはじめ祖国の暮らしに耐えかねたエチオピア人を次々と受け入れていた。
　１９９８年４月、ある文書を探していたシラクさんは、客人の一人が残していったスーツケースの中に入っていた冠を偶然発見した。「スーツケースの中をのぞくと、何かとても素晴らしい物が見えた。それから、『あり得ない。これは盗まれた物に違いない。これはエチオピアになければいけない』と思った」
　シラクさんはその後スーツケースの持ち主と対峙（たいじ）し、冠は「エチオピアに返されるのでない限り、私の家を出さない」と言い放った。この人物の名をシラクさんは明かさなかった。
　■「返せる時が来るまで」
　すぐにシラクさんは、当時まだ新しかったインターネット上のエチオピア人のチャットグループで、「あるエチオピアの文化遺物」についてどうすべきか、他のユーザーに尋ねてみたが、満足の行く答えは得られなかった。そこでエチオピアの体制が変わり「返せる時が来るまで」、冠の事実上の守護者になることを決心した。
　だがその後も同国の強権的な一党支配は続き、冠は２１年間にわたって、シラクさんのアパートに保管されることになった。冠を「返しても、また消えてしまうだけだと分かっていた」とシラクさんは話した。
　転機が訪れたのは昨年のアビー・アハメド首相の就任だったという。シラクさんはとうとう冠を返せるほど十分に状況が変化したと感じた。
　この冠を鑑定した専門家によると現存する同様の冠は２０個以下で、「古代末期にまでさかのぼる習慣」において通常、国の高官から教会に寄付されていたものだという。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】

〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2019/10/04-08:26）

A priceless 18th-century Ethiopian crown is set to be returned from the Netherlands to Addis Ababa after a one-time refugee found it in a suitcase and hid it in his apartment for two decades.
The ornate gilded copper headgear, featuring images of Christ and the Twelve Apostles, was unearthed after refugee-turned-Dutch-citizen Sirak Asfaw contacted Dutch 'art detective' Arthur Brand.
Brand, dubbed the Indiana Jones of the art world for his discoveries of missing works, said the crown, which is currently being held in a secure location, would soon be handed to the Ethiopian authorities.
Speaking at his apartment in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam, Sirak told AFP the remarkable story of how he came into possession of the crown -- which experts say belongs to a series of some of Ethiopia's most important cultural artefacts.
Sirak, a former Ethiopian refugee who today works as a management consultant for the Dutch government, fled the country during the late 1970s during the so-called Red Terror purges.
Once settled in the Netherlands, Sirak used to receive a stream of Ethiopians including pilots and diplomats, along with people who had fled a continuous cycle of hardship in Africa's most ancient country.
Then, in April 1998, while looking for a document, Sirak stumbled upon the crown in a suitcase left behind by one of his visitors.
I looked into the suitcase and saw something really amazing and I thought 'this is not right. This has been stolen. This should not be here. This belongs to Ethiopia', he said.
- 'It would just disappear' -
Sirak said he confronted the suitcase's owner -- whom he did not identify -- and told him that the crown will not leave my house unless it goes back to Ethiopia.
Shortly afterwards Sirak posted a message on an Ethiopian chat group on the internet -- still a new phenomena back in 1998 -- asking what people thought he should do with an Ethiopian artefact.
But he did not get a satisfactory answer and I did not want to return it to the same regime that had made it possible for the crown to get stolen, he said.
The former refugee decided to become the crown's de facto guardian until such time it could go back.
For 21 years the crown was hidden in his apartment as Ethiopia continued to be ruled by an iron-fisted one-party government.
During that time, Sirak was pressured by Ethiopians who knew he had the crown and wanted to force him to give it back.
But I knew if I gave it back, it would just disappear again, he said.
Sirak said however that when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office last year, he felt that things had changed sufficiently in Ethiopia to finally give the crown back.
Brand said Sirak had contacted him and told me he was in possession of an Ethiopian artefact of great cultural importance.
It turns out that Sirak Asfaw had been the custodian of a rare 18th-century Ethiopian crown for the past 21 years and wants to give it back, said Brand.
It was a story straight from a crime thriller, said the art sleuth, who became world famous in 2015 after finding two bronze statues of horses made by Hitler's favourite sculptor Joseph Thorak.
The Dutch government too confirmed to AFP that Brand had told them about the crown's existence saying its authenticity will now have to be established in close cooperation with Ethiopian authorities, before the next steps will be taken.
- 'This is Ethiopia's identity' -
The artefact is currently being stored at a high-security facility in the Netherlands, where it was seen by an AFP correspondent.
Jacopo Gnisci, a research associate at Oxford University who also examined the artefact and confirmed its authenticity, said there were less than two dozen of these crowns, called zewd, in existence.
These crowns are of great cultural and symbolic significance in Ethiopia, as they are usually donated by high-ranking officials to churches in a practice that reaches as far back as the Late Antiquity, he told AFP.
This crown has an inscription dating to 1633-34, but Gnisci said it was more likely to have been made a century later and was commissioned by one of Ethiopia's most powerful warlords, ras Welde Sellase.
Gnisci, who is currently writing a book about medieval Ethiopian manuscripts, said Welde Sellase likely donated the crown to a church in a village called Cheleqot near the modern-day city of Mekelle in northern Ethiopia.
The last time the crown was seen in public, it was worn by a priest in a photograph taken in 1993 before it disappeared, said Gnisci. An investigation was launched at the time but the culprits were never found.
These crowns are of priceless symbolic value and it is important that they be retuned to Ethiopia, said Gnisci.
This is Ethiopian cultural heritage, this is Ethiopia's identity and finally it feels good to give it back, said Sirak.