[MSN] Antiquities Returned to Greece by Getty Museum

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*Antiquities Returned to Greece by Getty Museum*
 
Athens.- Prime minister Costas Karamanlis on Thursday praised the 
culture ministry's systematic work for the return of the Parthenon 
Marbles to Greece, as well as the return of all antiquities illegally 
excavated and smuggled out of the country, in the effort to safeguard 
Greece's cultural heritage.

"Defending our cultural heritage using all legal means is a self-evident 
obligation. Claiming from foreign museums and collectors every Greek 
ancient artifact for which we have evidence that it was the product of 
antiquities-smuggling, illegal excavation or illegal trade is a matter 
of urgent priority," the Greek premier stressed.

Karamanlis was speaking to reporters after a handover ceremony marking 
the return of two important ancient Greek artifacts from the J. Paul 
Getty Museum in Los Angeles, held at the National Archaeological Museum 
in Athens, where the artifacts will be on display.

The artifacts are a 4th century B.C. gold funerary wreath from the 
northern Greek province of Macedonia and an archaic-era statue of a 
'kore' (young woman) made of Parian marble. They are the last of four 
artifacts returned to Greece by the museum under an agreement announced 
a few months ago.

The agreement with the Getty Museum, where the antiquities were housed, 
was reached after the Greek government contested the legality of their 
export from the country.

Karamanlis further said that a bill aimed at curbing the illegal trade 
and smuggling of antiquties would be tabled in parliament by the culture 
ministry in the near future.

"Policy is vindicated when it yields tangible results. Our goals become 
action, day by day," Karamanlis added.

The Greek premier also referred to the completion of the new Acropolis 
Museum and the return of two fragments of the Parthenon and the 
Erechtheum in 2006, noting that these "dismissed the spurious excuses 
put forward for not returning the Parthenon sculptures".

Speaking after the premier, Culture Minister George Voulgarakis 
described the two ancient artifacts retrieved from the J. Paul Getty 
Museum as "masterpieces of Greek art".

The minister also emphasised the fact that all four items returned by 
the Getty were given back without any form of exchange and without 
intervention by a court.

"The era when stolen objects of great value could be bought on the 
'grey' market is gone, never to return," Voulgarakis underlined.

He noted that the deal would allow Greece to claim the things that 
rightfully belonged to it, provided there was proof that it had been 
illegally obtained and exported from the country.

According to the minister, meanwhile, the international community's 
"shift to respecting international law and ethics" was not incompatible 
with the "healthy interests of great museums".

Apart from the golden wreath and the kore, the Los Angeles-based Getty 
museum had in August 2006 returned a 4th-century B.C. black limestone 
stele - grave marker - and a 6th-century B.C. marble votive relief from 
Thasos that also went on display at the National Archaeological Museum 
in Athens.

The stele was unearthed during an illegal dig in the 1990s near the city 
of Thebes while the votive relief was stolen almost a century ago from 
the French Archaeological School warehouse on the Aegean island of Thasos.

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