[Handout/Culture Ministry]
Nine ancient Greek vases that were stolen from the antiquities-rich Peloponnese region decades ago and ended up in a Budapest museum are being returned to Greece, the Culture Ministry said Friday.
A ministry statement said the repatriation from the Hungarian capital’s Museum of Fine Arts followed a long Greek campaign that started in 2008. It added that efforts are being made to secure the return from Budapest of another 13 Greek vases that are also thought to have been stolen from the archaeological museum of Argos.
The ministry provided no information on the vases themselves, and very little on how they were stolen and came to be exhibited in Budapest, although it implied that Hungarian authorities first contacted Athens about the works.
Photographs show black-figure drinking cups, bowls, wine jugs and a lekythos, or oil flask, apparently dating to the 6th century BC and earlier.
The ministry statement said the artefacts were stolen from the museum of Argos, near Nafplio and Mycenae in the northeastern Peloponnese, between 1970 and 1992. It appears likely that they had been kept in museum storerooms rather than being part of the actual display.
Culture Minister Lina Mendoni, who travelled to Budapest for the handover ceremony, said the repatriation was the result of “insistence and patience, scientific accuracy and diplomatic dedication.”
“This is a day of justification for Greece,” she said. “It closes an issue that had remained open for nearly two decades … [In] 2008 … Greek authorities were first informed, by the Hungarian side, about the presence of the vases in the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts.”
Mendoni said the negotiations with Hungary on the nine vases “went through periods of stagnation and great difficulties [and] were reactivated with increasing intensity over the past six years, including through diplomatic channels.”
The two countries also signed a cultural cooperation agreement.
Mendoni called the return of the artefacts “a victory for international law and for cooperation between peoples.”
“Each forms a part of our people’s DNA, a tiny segment of our national and collective identity,” she said. “Only through coordinated international action can we effectively address the global scourge of the illegal trafficking of cultural goods.”
Greece has long pursued aggressive international campaigns to reclaim antiquities that were illegally excavated and exported from the country to museums and private collections abroad, posting a series of successes over the years.
Mendoni said the nine vases will be displayed at the new Argos museum, which is expected to reopen to visitors at the end of June after protracted renovation works, while efforts will be made to secure the return of the other 13 antiquities from Hungary.
