GENEVA: Swiss police on Friday said they seized a painting recording a key moment in Serbian history that was stolen from a castle in the country in 1993.
Vlaho Bukovac's "Blagovestanski sabor" - which depicts a historic 1861 assembly of prominent Serbs in the then Austro-Hungarian empire - was recovered in a raid in Zurich in which two Serbian nationals were arrested.
The painting was recovered on Wednesday, police said, in a cross-border operation with Serbian authorities in which several other people were detained.
"In the middle of the week, the Zurich public prosecutor's office seized a painting stolen from a Serbian castle in the 1990s," Zurich police said.
"This painting is considered an important national cultural property in Serbia."
While Serbian reports put the market price of the painting at around half a million euros, it is the work's value as a cultural symbol that is of most interest.
Blagovestanski Sabor, or the Annunciation Assembly, is seen as one of the most significant events in the history of the Serbs.
At the meeting, the Serbian elite sought political autonomy for territories inhabited mostly by Serbs from the empire, which then controlled much of central and southern Europe.
The Zurich police say they arrested a 44-year-old Serb and a 76-year-old person of Swiss and Serbian nationality in connection with the alledged attempted sale of a stolen artwork.
The Zurich public prosecutor's office has opened criminal proceedings against the two men.
The 44-year-old was released from custody on Thursday, without the police giving the reasons.
For its part, the Beta news agency reports that three people suspected of being involved in the attempted sale of the painting have been arrested in Serbia.
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