ANCIENT OLYMPIA – New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Artwork has returned an historical bronze griffin head stolen almost a century in the past to a museum in southern Greece, the newest repatriation marking a broader shift within the museum world to return important artifacts.
The seventh century B.C. artifact was on show on the Archaeological Museum of Olympia, the town that in historical instances was the birthplace of the video games that later impressed the trendy Olympic Video games.
Greece’s tradition minister, Lina Mendoni, attended a ceremony Friday on the museum, calling the return a major second.
“After a long time of absence, the griffin returns from the Metropolitan Museum in New York to the place it belongs,” she stated, praising the joint effort by the Tradition Ministry and the Met to hint the artifact’s previous. The ceremony coincided with a go to to Greece by members of the Worldwide Olympic Committee to elect a brand new president. Kirsty Coventry turned the primary girl and first African to steer the worldwide physique.
The griffin, a legendary creature with the physique of a lion and the top and wings of an eagle, symbolized energy and divine safety in historical Greece. The bronze head will now be displayed alongside an analogous griffin head already on the Olympia museum.
The Met has recently increased its efforts to assessment the historical past of its holdings, hiring further consultants to trace the origins of objects in its assortment.
“We’re grateful for our long-standing partnership with the Greek authorities and stay up for continued engagement and cultural change,” the Met’s museum director Max Hollein stated in an announcement.
Establishments the world over in recent times have begun to acknowledge the significance of returning important cultural objects whereas nonetheless selling world entry to heritage. As a part of this new framework, Greece has agreed to mortgage the griffin head again to the Met for future exhibitions, Mendoni stated. Athens is hoping the brand new, extra open method will enhance its decades-long marketing campaign for the return of the Parthenon Sculptures, taken from the Acropolis in Athens within the nineteenth century and now within the British Museum. The federal government — citing their cultural significance and unlawful elimination — says it’s making sluggish progress in negotiations with the London museum.
___ Gatopoulos reported from Athens, Greece.
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