After finding it in the port of Geneva, Athens recovers 351 stolen antiques

After a long legal battle, Greece has recovered 351 valuable looted antiquities. As the Ministry of Culture in Athens announced on Saturday, the treasures belonged to a notorious British art trading company that is being liquidated.

The pieces date from the Neolithic to the Byzantine period. According to Culture Minister Lina Mendoni, the legal battle to recover the stolen antiques lasted 17 years.

As early as 2006, the Greek authorities had launched investigations against the company Robin Symes Limited, which is active at home and abroad.

Symes is considered a key figure in the illegal antique trade with ties to grave robbers. In the mid-2010s, Italian and Swiss police officers discovered a huge treasure trove of stolen archaeological artifacts in a storage unit rented by Symes in the port of Geneva. The Greek Ministry of Culture has not provided information on whether the repatriations were related to the loot found at the time.

Pieces in the antiquities collection include a Neolithic white stone stauette dating back to 4000 BC. 3200-2700 BC, a Cycladic figure. BC, a damaged marble statue from 550-500 BC and a fragmented bronze statue of the young Alexander the Great from the second half of the 2nd century. Numerous ceramic fragments are also being repatriated.

Scattered in museums and private collections around the world are countless other looted works of art and antiquities from Greece that the government in Athens is trying to recover. A highly sensitive issue is the return of the Elgin Marbles, a large marble relief known as the Parthenon Frieze, housed in the British Museum in London. Negotiations are said to be ongoing between the museum and the Greek government on this matter.

According to London, British diplomat Lord Elgin “legally acquired” the marble frieze in 1802 and sold it to the British Museum. However, the Greek government speaks of looting.

Only in March did Pope Francis return three fragments of the Parthenon frieze from the Vatican to Greece as a “gesture of friendship”. The Parthenon is one of the most famous monuments of ancient Greece. In the Greek Acropolis Museum, a free space is reserved for the entire Parthenon frieze.

(dsc/sda/afp)