The United States has repatriated over 250 ancient artifacts to Italy following the discovery by the country’s police that these items had been subjected to theft.
The art division of the Italian police force unveiled that these pieces had been unlawfully taken and subsequently traded to museums and individual collectors within the United States during the 1990s.
Among the notable artifacts are valued possessions such as pottery, paintings, and sculptures, some of which trace their origins back up to 3,000 years.
A significant portion of these artifacts, specifically various mosaic works, possess a cumulative value reaching into the tens of millions of euros.
The assortment features items of historical significance, ranging from the earliest dating back to the Villanovan era (1000 – 750 BC) to artifacts associated with the Etruscan civilization (800 – 200 BC), Magna Graecia (750 – 400 BC), and the Imperial Roman period (27 BC – 476 AD).
Primarily pilfered during the 1990s, these artifacts were subsequently channeled through a series of intermediaries, with indications pointing toward a proposal of inclusion in the Menil Collection, a museum situated in Houston, Texas.
Italy’s Ministry of Culture confirmed that these items were previously claimed to be on display at the Menil Collection; however, a representative from the museum refuted these assertions, asserting that they had never formed part of their collection.
The spokesperson from the museum communicated that the artifacts had been proffered as a donation, but the recommendation was extended to redirect the potential donor to Italy’s Ministry of Culture.
In a voluntary gesture, the possessor of the collection opted to return these items, prompted by the police’s revelation of their illicit provenance through unauthorized excavations at archaeological sites.
Simultaneously, it was communicated by the Ministry that 145 of these restituted artifacts stemmed from a legal pursuit against an English antiquities merchant named Robin Symes, who had accumulated an extensive collection through a network of unlawful traders.
Italy’s endeavors to retrieve antiques and relics that were unlawfully taken and subsequently vended to private collectors and institutions have been an ongoing mission.
In a separate instance, in September 2022, New York restituted stolen artworks valued at $19 million (£16 million) to Italy. This repatriation included a marble depiction of the goddess Athena dated to 200 BC, singularly estimated at a worth of $3 million.
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