An 18th century crown worn by the nobility of Ethiopia was returned to its home country after being hidden in an apartment in the Netherlands for more than 20 years.
Ethiopian Sirak Asfaw, who fled the communist military government of Ethiopia in the 1970s, found the crown in the suitcase of a man visiting him in 1998.
Realising it was stolen, Asfaw protected the crown until last year when he alerted a historian and the Dutch police.
On Thursday, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed received the crown, believed to be one of only 20 of its kind in the world.
The crown is adorned with depictions of Jesus Christ, the disciples of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, and was originally gifted to the Ethiopian church hundreds of years ago by a powerful warlord in the region.
Prime Minister Ahmed thanked the Dutch government for assisting in the return of the crown.
Asfaw said he chose to return the crown to Ethiopia after Ahmed’s election as Prime Minister in 2018, as he saw the new leader as a reformer.
Asfaw went on to say that he hoped the crown would become a symbol of unity and togetherness.
[Picture: A. Davey, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21920075. Detail from a similar crown.]