[MSN] Stolen art returned, but Greece wants more.

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Stolen art returned, but Greece wants more


Helena Smith in Athens
July 12, 2006

EMBOLDENED by the J. Paul Getty Museum's decision to return two prized
antiquities, Greece will demand more repatriations, the culture minister,
Giorgos Voulgarakis, has said.

"Whatever is Greek, wherever in the world, we want back," he said on Monday.
He hailed the Getty's decision as "a huge success both for Greece and other
countries".

Asked how many works were in question, Mr Voulgarakis said: "We're not
talking about a handful; we're talking about hundreds of artefacts that have
ended up in many different places around the world."

Byzantine icons as well as archaic and classical antiquities are expected to
be among contested items.

The move was announced a day after Greece's accord with the Getty. The Los
Angeles institution agreed to surrender the two sculptures - an ornate
2400-year-old black limestone grave marker and an archaic votive relief
portraying two women bearing gifts to a goddess - after talks lasting less
than three months.

The relief was stolen from the French archaeological school on the island of
Thassos at the turn of the 20th century. Getty bought it for his personal
collection in 1955. The tombstone, engraved with the image of a dead warrior
called Athanias, was illegally excavated near Thebes between 1992 and 1996.
Athens had pressed for the return of the works for the past decade.

Monday's announcement in a statement by the museum and Greek officials
leaves unresolved the fate of two other artefacts, which are of greater
archaeological significance and value.

The statement said the two parties hoped to reach an agreement by the end of
August. Such a deal is likely to include long-term loans of Greek
antiquities to the Getty, following the model of Italian agreements forged
during the past year over disputed artefacts.

"The Greeks have been very generous with the range of possibilities they are
offering," said the Getty's Australian director, Michael Brand, in a
statement from Canberra, where he is on leave.

A Greek law enforcement source said on Monday that a criminal investigation
into the Getty's acquisition of one of the other disputed items, a gold
funerary wreath, might lead to criminal charges.

Targets could include Marion True, the Getty's former antiquities curator,
who recommended acquiring the artefact, and board members who approved the
acquisition, the source said. True is being tried in Italy on charges of
conspiracy to traffic in looted art.

The Guardian, Los Angeles Times