[MSN] In an abrupt change of course, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles announced Tuesday that it had broken off negotiations with the Italian government and made a "unilateral" decision to cede only some of the antiquities to Italy.

[Museum Security Network Mailinglist]

Getty Museum halts talks on antiquities

Published November 22, 2006


ITALY -- In an abrupt change of course, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los
Angeles announced Tuesday that it had broken off negotiations with the
Italian government and made a "unilateral" decision to cede only some of the
antiquities that Italy says were looted from its soil.

In a six-page letter to the Italian culture minister, Francesco Rutelli, the
Getty's director, Michael Brand, said the museum would turn over 26
artifacts but that Italy has "no valid legal claim" to a prized bronze
sculpture in the Getty's collection, and that evidence regarding a limestone
cult statue--possibly depicting Aphrodite--it wants returned is
"inconclusive." 

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