[MSN] SIX 13th century Byzantine icons stolen from churches in the Morphou area after 1974 have been returned to the Church of Cyprus during a ceremony in New York late on Wednesday.

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Stolen icons handed over in New York ceremony
By Jean Christou

SIX 13th century Byzantine icons stolen from churches in the Morphou area
after 1974 have been returned to the Church of Cyprus during a ceremony in
New York late on Wednesday.

They will arrive back in Cyprus tomorrow.

The priceless icons were located at the Sotheby's auction house after Church
investigators spotted them for sale in a catalogue.

They were handed over to Bishop Neophytou of Morphou, who told the special
gathering: "The Turkish invasion turned upside down the units and the
history of the Church in Cyprus and we continue to bear witness to the
destruction of our cultural and religious heritage in the areas occupied by
Turkey."

Neophytou commented that thousands of priceless icons had been trafficked
from the north of the island since 1974 and had fallen into the hands of
wealthy art collectors.

Cypriot ambassador to the US, Andreas Kakouris, who also attended the
ceremony, said the government was first notified in 2005 that the icons were
due to be auctioned by Sotheby's. The auction house was asked to halt the
sale until the matter was sorted out.

"The return of the icons is part of continuing efforts by the government to
maintain and protect our rich cultural and religious heritage. At the same
time, we are following a legal course of action relating to the plunder of
our treasures and their illicit export," he said.

Kakouris said the government had redoubled its efforts in monitoring
international art markets to locate and repatriate stolen artefacts.

Orthodox Archbishop of the Americas Demetrios said he was very pleased to
see the icons "being retrieved from slavery on their way to freedom".

Five of the six icons were from the church in occupied Asinou in the Morphou
district and the sixth was stolen from a church in Kalopanayiotis. Among
others they include depictions of the Virgin of Asinou, the Apostles Peter
and Paul and Ayios Andronikos.

All have been well-documented in the past in various publications, which
made the Church's case easier to prove. The icons had been in the possession
of the Pankow Foundation created by construction magnate Charles Pankow.

Pankow was well known as a connoisseur of the arts, having established a
considerable collection of ancient Egyptian, Chinese and Russian artefacts.
He amassed one of the largest private collections of Russian and Greek icons
in the United States.

After his death, the administrators gathered a lot of his Byzantine pieces
for auction and published a catalogue. An out-of-court settlement was
reached with the administrators of the Foundation, but only for the
reimbursement of expenses and fees.

Bishop Neophytou thanked the Foundation for its co-operation.

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