A German girl who stole the highest of an historic column in Olympia over half a century in the past has returned it to Greece, the Greek tradition ministry stated Saturday.
The capital of the column, manufactured from limestone and measuring 9 inches excessive and 33.5 cm 13 inches huge, was taken from the Leonidaion, a 4th-century BC guesthouse.
In a social media submit, the Greek tradition ministry praised the “sensitivity and braveness” of the lady who returned the artifact.
It’s the third artifact returned by the College of Muenster lately. The handover came about on Friday.
“Motivated by the current return of necessary antiquities from the College of Muenster to their nations of origin, she determined handy it over to the college, with whose priceless contribution it returned to Greece and Historical Olympia”, the ministry stated, hailing the “sensitivity and braveness” of the lady.
Greece Tradition Ministry
In 2019, the College of Muenster returned a twin-handled wine cup belonging to a champion from the primary fashionable Olympic Video games in Athens in 1896.
Then in 2024, it returned a Roman-era marble male head which got here from a cemetery in Thessaloniki.
“It is a notably transferring second. This act proves that tradition and historical past know no borders however require cooperation, accountability, and mutual respect,” Giorgios Didaskalou, a senior tradition ministry official stated.
Torben Schreiber, curator of the College of Muenster’s archaeological museum, added that: “It’s by no means too late to do the suitable factor, the ethical and the simply.”
Athens has been attempting for years to dealer offers for the repatriation of antiquities with out resorting to authorized motion.
Its chief purpose stays the return of the Parthenon Marbles, held by the British Museum because the nineteenth century. A number of European governments have been pushing for the sculptures to be returned to Athens because the early Nineteen Eighties.
