Culture Minister Lina Mendoni on Tuesday received 11 ancient Greek artifacts from the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, handed over by the Chief of the Antiquities Trafficking Unit and Senior Trial Counsel, Assistant District Attorney Matthew Bogdanos. The returned antiquities, which Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg said were collectively valued at nearly one million dollars, will now be repatriated in Greece.
According to a Greek culture ministry announcement, the repatriation was achieved thanks to the long-term and close cooperation of the Manhattan District Attorney's Office and the ministry.
"In recent years, the culture ministry has succeeded in repatriating hundreds of stolen cultural goods. Each repatriation has a special meaning, as it is directly related to our collective and individual identity. The Greek state gives priority to the repatriation of antiquities that rightfully belong to our country, but illegally remain abroad," Mendoni stated.
"Greece", noted the minister, "under no circumstances demands that the museums which host and exhibit works of ancient Greek art be emptied. It does, however, demand the return of all its illegally exported cultural treasures and the reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures, a unique case. The violent removal of the Sculptures destroyed the integrity of the existing monument, a symbol of Western Civilisation".
Among the 11 returned ancient artifacts is a marble male figurative head (first half of the 1st century AD), an Attic marble votive relief of the "funerary" category (second half of the 4th century BC), a marble basin with a stopper and a marble doidykas (pestle, 5th-4th century BC),a bronze female statuette (3rd century BC), a miniature bronze female bust (3rd century BC), a gold ring depicting Poseidon with trident on a sling (1st century BC - 1st century AD) and a clay Mycenaean female figurine type Ψ (1300-1200 BC).
After the repatriation ceremony, Lina Mendoni awarded Matthew Bogdanos, on behalf of the Hellenic Republic and the Greek government, with the medal of the "Commander of the Order of the Phoenix", for his contribution to the recovery and repatriation to Greece of a large number of antiquities.