Dutch Museum Plans to Retrieve 'Tutankhamun of Archaeology' - Remains of Mosasaur Taken to France in 1794

Maastricht, Netherlands, is seeking the return of a valuable fossil taken over 200 years ago by the French army. The fossil in question is the skull of a mosasaur, discovered in the Maastricht area in the 18th century. In 1794, during the siege of Maastricht, French forces took it to France as a war trophy.

Now, the Natural History Museum in Maastricht wants the outgoing Dutch government to officially request restitution from France. In July of last year, the Maastricht city council already urged the French to return the fossil. Recently, the museum and municipality will discuss this matter with the Netherlands' Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science.

The fossil, known as Mosasaurus hoffmanni, currently resides in the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris and is considered a significant scientific discovery. Palaeontologist John Jagt from the Maastricht Natural History Museum says, "It's a benchmark that can be compared to what Tutankhamun is to archaeology." He adds, "This fossil made 18th-century scientists ponder whether plants and animals could become extinct due to natural circumstances. All mosasaurs found since then are cross-referenced with the Paris remains."

"We would like to have it back," says Wim Guppers, the director of the Maastricht Museum. "In the Netherlands, we are engaged in claims to return items to other countries. Conversely, we also have objects that disappeared from the Netherlands, in this case, during wartime, and we would like to get them back."

Currently, the museum displays a plaster cast of the skull. The museum received the authentic fossil from Paris in 2009 for a temporary exhibition lasting several months. However, the French museum is not willing to consider a permanent transfer. A plaque near the French museum's display refers to the fossil as 'stolen art.'

Recall that recently, Ukraine reclaimed Scythian gold - unique artefacts from four museums in Ukrainian Crimea that Russia sought to appropriate after the annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula in 2014. These artefacts had been in the Netherlands for almost 10 years. After a relevant court decision, the Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam handed over the artefacts directly to the National Museum of Ukrainian History in Kyiv, where the historical treasures will be kept until the complete liberation of Crimea from Russian occupation forces.