Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has announced that the Seuso Treasure is finally back in Hungary after the final seven pieces made their way home.
The entire Seuso Treasure, 14 pieces in total, has been successfully reclaimed and they are back in Hungary, PM Orbán said. The first 7 pieces were purchased in March 2014.
The Seuso Treasure, which the prime minister referred to as "Hungary's family silverware," dates to the Roman Empire of the late 4th or early 5th Century AD. It consists of a collection of large, decorated, silver vessels and the copper cauldron in which they were held and is believed to have been discovered in the 1970s in a town in Hungary just east of Lake Balaton. One of the larger objects, the "Hunting Plate," bears an inscription with the word "Pelso," which was the Roman name for Lake Balaton. The trove soon went missing and surfaced years later on the international antiquities market.
The prime minister revealed the news this afternoon in a special announcement where he was joined by László Baán, director of the Hungarian Museum of Fine Arts.
According to the prime minister, the return of the Seuso Treasure has been the goal of every government, but this government is the one that managed finally to bring the treasure home to Hungary.