Antiquities

A headless bronze statue believed to depict the Roman emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius was ordered seized from the Cleveland Museum of Art by New York authorities investigating antiquities looted from Türkiye.

It would be too easy to comment that the theft of antiquities from the British Museum, allegedly by a staff member who has since been sacked, is a sign of divine providence: the repository of much of humanity's history, some of it of dubious provenance or evident theft, is getting a taste of its own medicine, and proving to be a far less adequate custodian of that incomparable treasure than it

In the latest repatriation of items of Greek cultural heritage, the United States has returned 29 looted antiquities.

They were delivered to Greece by Alvin L. Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, in a special ceremony at the Greek Consulate General in New York.

Fifteen ancient objects dating from the prehistoric to the Roman period are being repatriated to Greece from Switzerland by decision of a Geneva court in July last year following proceedings against an antiquities dealer. 

Egypt announced on Jan. 2 the recovery of a sarcophagus lid dating back nearly 2,700 years that it said had been smuggled out and put on display at a museum in the United States.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry announced the recovery of the artifact, known as the "Green Sarcophagus," during a televised press conference.

Italy has been so successful in recovering ancient artworks and artifacts that were illegally exported from the country it has created a museum for them.

Dozens of looted antiquities seized from billionaire hedge fund founder Michael Steinhardt after a years long investigation have been returned to the people of Greece, prosecutors in New York announced on Feb. 23.

The artifacts included a sculpture of a young man from about 560 B.C., known as a kouros, that is worth $14 million, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said.

The Greek Culture Ministry said Wednesday it would seek the repatriation from New York of a 2,700-year-old bronze horse statuette which it says was illegally exported from Greece, after a US court rejected an auction house's bid to proceed with the sale of the artifact.

Police in the port city of Piraeus have arrested a 61-year-old doctor and his 42-year-old wife on charges on antiquities smuggling after finding a Neolithic statue and a classical-era amphora during raids of their home and business in the suburb of Korydallos on December 20, the Hellenic Police (ELAS) said on Tuesday.

France has agreed to lend Greece a metope from the Parthenon displayed at the Louvre, to coincide with the 2021 celebrations of the bicentennial of the start of the country's War of Independence, state-run news agency ANA-MPA reported Friday.