A Belgian court ordered insurer Liberty Special Markets to pay 3.5 million euros to the city of Ghent for the canceled tickets of an exhibition featuring the artist Jan van Eyck. The exhibition was cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The city of Ghent had refunded three million euros for the tickets sold from its own funds as the insurance company initially refused to cover the costs. However, the city has now won its case in court.
In 2020, the city of Ghent organized a prestigious retrospective exhibition of the medieval painter Jan van Eyck, best known to the general public for his work "The Adoration of the Lamb." Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted these plans, leading to the early closure of the exhibition due to lockdown measures. This was a financial setback for Ghent, but the city had wisely taken out insurance to protect against such events.
"We insured ourselves at that time against various risks, including terrorism, riots, natural disasters, and epidemics. In hindsight we made the right choice to opt for such insurance," said Sami Souguir, the Deputy Mayor for Culture.
The city of Ghent promptly reimbursed the ticket costs for the visitors, which amounted to three million euros. The insurance company contributed 460,000 euros, but the city found this amount insufficient. As a result, they took legal action, and ultimately, the court ruled that the Liberty Special Markets should reimburse a total of over 3 million euros. "We were confident that everything would work out as our insurance coverage was quite comprehensive." added Souguir.
Image : Exhibition view, Copyright David Levine
Anna Melnykova, "Palace of Labor (palats praci), architector I. Pretro, 1916", shot with analog Canon camera, 35 mm Fuji film in March 2022.
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