GREECE: A court battle with the business of a British antique trader resulted in the recovery of the artefacts, according to officials. As a participant in a network of illicit traders, Robin Symes had accumulated thousands of pieces.
Greece has been struggling for years to get back items that have been stolen from museums and private collections around the world.
Friday saw Greek Culture Minister Lina Mendoni make the news that 351 items from Symes’s collection would be returned following a 17-year court fight.
Mendoni did not specify whether the artefacts were connected to the haul of ancient treasures that Italian and Swiss police reportedly found Symes storing at the Geneva Freeport in Switzerland in 2016.
The Parthenon Sculptures are arguably the most well-known works of art in the argument over whether museums should send objects back to their country of origin.
Beginning in the early 1800s, Lord Elgin, a British soldier and diplomat, removed them from the Parthenon temple in Athens. In 1816, the British government made the purchase and added the statues to the collection of the British Museum.
It is rumoured that negotiations for their repatriation are progressing. The Vatican gave over three Parthenon temple parts that it had been holding onto for many years in March.
A shattered marble statue of an Archaic period kore from 550–500 BCE and an Archaic marble head of possibly a kore or a sphinx from the same period were other notable discoveries. The Early Cycladic figurine dating to between 3200 and 2700 BCE is another noteworthy find.
Also Read: Greece Elections Worried by Severity of Financial Backlash as Voters Try to Fight Living Costs
