Hungarian National Museum returns paintings to owner's heirs

The Hungarian National Museum (MNM) on Wednesday returned 14 antique paintings to representatives of the Sigray family, from whom they were confiscated in the early 1950's.

The museum released the paintings under a court ruling in September last year, which concluded a lawsuit initiated by the heirs of Count Antal Sigray, MNM director Laszlo Csorba told reporters.

The act of receiving the pictures is "the umpteenth step in an unjustly lengthy procedure," Denes Osztroluczky, the representative of the family, said.

He noted that the family had so far managed to get back only a tiny fragment of the count's vast collection, which Sigray and his daughter Margit had deposited in various Hungarian museums for protection after WWII.

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