Greece Returns Stolen Ancient Statues to Albania
Balkan Travellers
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.
Epicure
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Street without a Name: Childhood and Other Misadventures in Bulgaria (2008) | By Kapka Kassabova
Danube blues
Text by Nicholas Lezard for The Guardian*
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Photogalleries
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A Perfect Shot
Koprivshtitsa Fair, Bulgara. Photographs by Neva Micheva
In Homo Urbanus Europeanus, exhibited May 9-24 in front of the National Theatre in Sofia, Jean-Marc Caracci presents his photographs of people in the urban environment of European capitals.
RED&WHITE SOFIA. On the 1st of March Bulgarians say goodbye to the winter. They buy each other red&white threads to carry around until they see a stork and spring can begin. Photography by Lode Desmet
BULGARIA D'OR: The Bulgarian countryside, patinated with the noble golden dust of the autumn. Photographs by Lode Desmet
360 degrees Bulgaria, an exhibition by photographer Alexandar Ivanov, is on display at the Sea Garden in Varna until August 28. It will be shown at Plovdiv’s Central Square from Sept 5.
The exhibition Photographs of a Trip Through Bulgaria by Hungarian photographer András Balla can be seen in Sofia's Hungarian Cultural Institute, at Aksakov 16 Street, until August 22
Instant Spring in Sofia | Photographs by Lode Desmet
Off-the-season Beauty of Bulgaria's Black Sea Coast | Photographs by Adelina Iliev
Bulgaria's Northern Black Sea Coast
Photographs by Albena Shkodrova
excellent smugs
