8 February 2008 | Greece returned on Thursday two ancient marble statues that were stolen from Albania, as part of a broader campaign against the illegal acquisition of antique objects.

The headless, life-size statues of the mythological figures Artemis and Apollo date back to the second century BC and second century AD. International media reported that they were stolen in the early 1990s from the Butrint archaeological site, a UNESCO World Heritage site on Albania’s south-western coast, near the border with Greece, and then recovered by Greece in 1997.

“Greece is implementing a coordinated policy on returning illegally gained antiquities,” Culture Minister Mihalis Liapis told media in Athens, during the official turnover of the statues to his Albanian counterpart, Ylli Pango.

More often than not, however, it seems that Greece would like to be on the receiving end in this policy. As Pango said, “The Greek people, perhaps more than others, understand the importance of this gesture."

The move is the latest in a series of attempts by Greece to fight against the illegal ownership and smuggling of antique cultural objects. As BalkanTravellers.com reported earlier this month, a new law aimed at the regulation of various rights regarding unmovable and movable cultural monuments was proposed by the Greek Culture Ministry.

Recently, Greece re-acquired ancient objects from the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, following a decade-long dispute through which it claimed the objects were rightfully its own.

A bigger and longer battle, however, is still being fought. Since the 1980s, Greece has continuously argued – to no avail, that the so-called Elgin Marbles currently owned by and displayed at the British Museum in London, should be returned to Greece as their rightful owner.

The Mediterranean state even went as far as constructing a modern Acropolis Museum in Athens to house objects from the Parthenon, including, it hopes, the Elgin Marbles.

Symbolically, the handover ceremony took place in the new museum.