A Vilnius court ruled in March that 408,000 euros must be paid to three heirs for 58 pieces of art taken from several manors that belonged to the counts.
After Lithuania restored its independence, the manors were returned to the Pliateriai family but the valuables were not as, based on Lithuanian law, property of Lithuanian state museum is the property of the state and cannot be returned to its previous owners.
The 58 pieces of art, mainly paintings, had been handed over to the Alka museum in Telšiai, western Lithuania.
The judicial process regarding these valuables lasted over ten years. Initially, Countess Felicija Laimė Broel Pliaterienė turned to court and, after she died in 2015, her heirs continued the process.
Jonas Leikauskas, representing the plaintiffs, told BNS Lithuania the existing heirs are citizens of Lithuania and the United States.
The Cabinet plans to allocate 408,000 euros from the government’s reserve next week and give it to the Ministry of Culture for it to execute the court ruling.