DUBROVNIK'S JEWISH COMMUNITY TREASURE RETURNS TO CROATIA

( Editorial: --> 8011 ) ZAGREB, Oct 13 (Hina) - After more than three years of intense efforts, the treasure of the Jewish Community from Dubrovnik, was transported on Tuesday to Zagreb's Pleso airport on board a Czech plane. The treasure, which arrived from New York via Prague, was displayed in 1994 at the Yesiva University Museum in New York, on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of Sephardic art. Present at the Zagreb airport to see the arrival of the plane were Assistant Culture Minister Branka Sulc, head of the Croatian Restoration Institute Ferdinand Meder and the Zagreb Jewish Community president Ognjen Kraus. Due to problems which appeared in regard to the return of the treasure to Croatia, the Dubrovnik Jewish Community and Croatian Government hired attorneys and requested the Yesiva University Museum to return the treasure. A US court eventually ruled in the favour of the Jewish Community and the Government, ordering that the treasure be returned to its owner, the Jewish Community in Dubrovnik. The transport of the treasure was supervised by Interpol members. All artefacts had been checked in New York by the Restoration Institute head Meder and the head of the Jewish Community in Dubrovnik, Bruno Horovic. The cases which arrived in Zagreb today contain 56 exhibits, including three Toras dating back to the 13th and 14th centuries, 14 metal objects used in religious services, 37 textile articles which date back to the Baroque period, and a very valuable prayer book. (hina) rml/sp 131542 MET oct 98