ZAGREB, 22 Nov (Hina) - A valuable late-17th-century work by the Carmelite monk Ireneo della Croce, one in a series of volumes stolen in a high-profile theft from the National and University Library (NSK) in Zagreb in the 1980s, has been returned to the institution.
The book, "Historia antica e moderna, sacra e profana della città di Trieste", whose author also used the name Giovanni Maria Manarutti, was handed over to NSK director Ivanka Stričević by Croatian Ambassador to Italy Jasen Mesić during a conference marking the International Day against Illicit Trafficking in Cultural Property, organised by the UNESCO Club in Gorizia.
"'Historia antica e moderna, sacra e profana della città di Trieste' is finally coming home," Stričević said, expressing gratitude to the institutions involved for their dedicated work in returning stolen books.
Manarutti's historical work consists of eight chapters covering the earliest history of Trieste up to 1100. Some chapters also address the history of the Istrian peninsula, making the book a valuable source for Croatian history as well.
The return of this volume to Croatia's largest library, which holds around 3.7 million items, is the result of years of successful collaboration between the NSK, the Ministry of Culture and Media, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, and the Croatian Embassy in Italy.
From 2019 to 2025, three other stolen works were returned to the NSK. In 2019, "Selenographia sive Lunae descriptio atque accurata tam macularum eius, quam motuum diversorum… delineati", published in 1647 in Gdańsk by Polish astronomer Jan Heweliusz (Johannes Hevelius), was returned.
A year later, the 1614 work on magic "Trinum magicum sive Secretorum magicorum opus continens" by Caesare Longinus, published in Frankfurt, was returned, and in 2022, "Dizionario geografico portatile" by Swiss geographer and cartographer Isaak Brouckner (published in Venice, 1761), was also returned.
These volumes, along with many others, were stolen during a major cultural property theft at the NSK between 1982 and 1987 by a three-member group led by the then 18-year-old Aleksandar Miles.
In the so-called "theft of the century", documented in several films, 1,309 valuable books from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries were stolen, along with numerous paintings, prints, and other treasures.
At the time, the estimated value of the stolen items was 1.5 million German marks.
About half of the books ended up in Belgrade, some in various locations in Austria, and according to Miles, others were sold in Italy, Germany, the UK, and the US. Most have been returned to Zagreb.
