tapestry in houston was stolen in spain1

One afternoon in July, the heavy wooden double doors of a luxurious Houston office building separated and took the elevator to the second floor.
He has a specific task, which is detailed in the official request of the Spanish government and forwarded to him: determine if the tapestries in the Houston nonprofit office were stolen from Spain in 1979.
Smith, the Homeland Security Investigation agent, carefully studied the tapestry and noticed the color, complexity and details of the tapestry.
He was trained in professional arts and artifacts from the United States, but did not consider himself an \"art expert \".
Nevertheless, the documents of the Spanish government strongly demonstrate this.
On that day, the agent \"almost believed\" that he had just seen the \"Virgin and St. Vincent\" on the 16 th \"--
Century tapestries and other works of art are said to have been stolen by notorious art thieves (
Belgian Eric)
Thirty years ago.
The revival of tapestries has ended decades of international curiosity about its whereabouts.
\"This is a very serious theft,\" Smith said . \" He added that the Spanish authorities were \"very interested in this and put a lot of resources into trying to recover it.
Captain of the Spanish National Guard
De Laguna said that tapestries are of great cultural significance to Spain, and he refused to provide more information about tapestries being stolen before they were returned.
Tapestries, 4 feet tall and more than 8 feet long, depict several Catholic saints and the Virgin Mary.
Recently, Spanish media reported that Erik, a Belgian in his 70 s, was a credit for the theft.
According to news reports, the value of the tapestry is $1.
3 million, but the Spanish authorities declined to estimate its value.
The immigration and spokesman said the case was one of several cases that local agents were investigating involving stolen art and art.
According to FBI estimates, the loss of stolen art and cultural relics may be as high as $6 billion a year.
The disruption to the tapestries took place in November 2010, when an employee of a museum in northeast Spain found a tapestries list in the catalogue of the Brussels Art and Antiques Fair and contacted the authorities.
Spanish investigators worked with Belgian, Italian and US authorities to track tapestries and finally learned that tapestries were purchased by a buyer of the company from an art gallery in Belgium in the spring of 2010.
The organization did not call back.
Smith said that the buyer took all the appropriate steps to declare the tapestries after buying them, and did not seem to know that the tapestries had been stolen.
He added that the organization worked with the authorities and he did not expect the buyer to face charges.
After Smith\'s first summer visit to the nonprofit, he returned to the Spanish authorities in November, including art experts, who devoted their lives to the study of tapestries.
\"When they saw something that had disappeared for 32 years, it was very exciting for them,\" Smith said . \".
\"It\'s like a child who has almost recovered. ”Smith, a U. S.
More than 20 years of customs officers and avid art and history enthusiasts say he and Spanish officials have been persuaded that they are looking for the same tapestry stolen in 1979, especially after noticing the repair of the Spanish cathedral. A U. S.
The Houston magistrate has signed a seizure order and the government has started a formal confiscation process.
Smith said the United StatesS.
The government had hoped to return tapestries to their home on the top of the Spanish cathedral for Christmas Mass in Time, but it is expected that the process will take several months.