A southern Dutch municipality said Thursday it "most likely" accidentally dumped 46 precious artworks, including one by Pop Art master Andy Warhol, during a town hall renovation last year.
The Maashorst municipality said the works, including a rare 1980s Warhol silkscreen print of the country's former monarch, Princess Beatrix, disappeared during work on the town hall in Uden, when that borough was incorporated into a new local administration.
"It's most likely that the artworks were accidentally taken away with the trash," the Maashorst municipality said in a statement.
The artworks were stored in a basement during the renovations, "but researchers concluded that they were not handled with care," local broadcaster Omroep Brabant reported.
When the new Maashorst municipality wanted to take an inventory of the paintings, it was found that dozens were missing.
Criminal charges were laid and the municipality employed an independent investigations agency to try to find out what happened to the artworks.
The agency concluded that there were several reasons why the artworks could have ended up in the dustbin.
"Ownership was not properly established, no policies and procedures were established regarding the renovation and insufficient action was taken when the artworks turned out to be missing," it said.
"Nor were there any guidelines for the registration, storage, conservation and security of the artworks," it added.
The Maashorst municipality said it was unlikely that the artworks would ever be found.
"This is not how you treat valuable items," Maashorst's mayor, Hans van der Pas, told Omroep Brabant.
"But it happened. We regret that," he said.
