Ancient jug returned to Turkey

A golden spouted jug, which dates back to 4,250 years and belongs to the period of Hattians, one of the ancient civilizations of Anatolia, has been returned to Turkey and now adorns the shelves of the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara.

A welcoming ceremony was held on Oct. 26 at the museum to mark the return of the ancient work.

Speaking at the ceremony, Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said that Turkey continues to work resolutely for the return of cultural assets that were illegally taken from its lands.

Ersoy explained that they had faced difficulties on this path from time to time and that they had to struggle with biased decisions and unrealistic and unscientific perspectives.

Speaking about the return process of the work, Ersoy said: "This work was purchased in 1989 by Sir Arthur Gilbert, the founder of the Gilbert Foundation. Of course, at the time, he had no knowledge of its illegal origin. Then it was entrusted to the Victoria and Albert Museum for preservation. While it was in this museum for many years, the Gilbert Foundation requested conducting research works for its origin. In this process, the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Museums was informed about the photographs and chemical data regarding the artifact."

"The museum experts compared the artifact with the Alacahöyük and Mahmatlar finds and confirmed that the artifact is a cultural property of the Hattian period stylistically. Experts from the Ankara Restoration and Conservation Regional Laboratory, affiliated with the ministry, made comparisons of the metal component data of the artifact. Mining expert Professor Ünsal Yalçın, one of the academics of Bochum University, also confirmed the results. After the submission of our...

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