[MSN] Italy returns looted art to Iran. The pieces date between the 8th and 14th centuries and were part of a larger haul of 309 objects found by the ministry’s art-theft police in September 2005 at an antiquities fair near Milan.

[Museum Security Network Mailing list]

Looted Art Returned to Iran
By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO
Published: November 14, 2007

The Italian Culture Ministry yesterday returned 41 archaeological 
artifacts of Middle Eastern origin to the Iranian ambassador in Italy. 
The pieces date between the 8th and 14th centuries and were part of a 
larger haul of 309 objects found by the ministry’s art-theft police in 
September 2005 at an antiquities fair near Milan. Experts at the 
National Museum of Oriental Art in Rome studied the artifacts and 
determined which countries they belonged to. Culture Minister Francesco 
Rutelli told reporters at a news conference that the Italian government 
had always repatriated objects it believed had been looted. “It is our 
moral, political and scientific obligation to do so,” he said. Italy has 
been waging its own successful campaign for the return of what it 
claimed to be plundered artifacts from American museums. The 41 objects 
include colorfully painted terra-cotta vases and several coins, as well 
a 10th-century bowl, above, from the Samanid dynasty. They had arrived 
in Italy via Thailand, a clandestine trade route now under investigation 
by the art-theft police, said its chief, General Giovanni Nistri.

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