It is yellow on the bas-reliefs found this morning, in a box, in front of the Gallery of Modern Art in Palermo. The employees of the museum, immediately realizing that in the large blue box left on the street there were works of art, opened it. Inside, among sweaters and labels used for the transport of valuable goods, they found the works packed and, thinking they could be stolen objects, they immediately called the carabinieri of the Artistic Heritage Protection Unit. Already from the first investigations it was discovered that they were plaster bas-reliefs that had been exhibited during an exhibition held in Bonn, Germany, in 2008. The works would belong to Sergej Zorych, a professor of restoration who had moved to Bagheria in recent years from the former Yugoslavia.
"Art and Exhibition Hall of the German Republic-Sicily. From Odyssey to Garibaldi": this is the inscription on the case found in front of the Gam that certainly refers to the title of the German exhibition. After the exhibition - the bas-reliefs were loaned - the works were sent back to Bagheria to the author and certainly arrived at their destination. This was confirmed to the carabinieri by the managers of the transport company who then took care of the expedition. The mystery remains as to who left them in front of the museum last night. The Slavic professor died two years ago. Between Palermo and Bagheria there would still be some of his family members that the carabinieri are looking for. Being able to hear them is essential to clarify the case and ascertain, for example, whether the bas-reliefs have been stolen. The soldiers of the nucleus led by Colonel Luigi La Marmora, after a first reconnaissance, have verified that there are no reports of theft. But it is not excluded that any reports have not been included in the international database of stolen works.
Two hypotheses followed by the investigators: that someone wanted to undo the objects by making them have them in a bizarre way at the Gallery of Modern Art or that a thief took them away from the owners and then abandoned them in front of the GAM not considering them valuable. The military began to acquire images from surveillance systems in the area to try to identify the perpetrators of the gesture.