Friday, June 14
Looted antiques: Berlin agrees to send back stolen objects to Italy
On Thursday, the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation signed an agreement to voluntarily return 21 antique Apulian vases along with four other precious objects to Italy after it was determined with near certainty that all of the objects were the result of illegal excavations.
Polaroid photographs of some of the objects were found in the offices of the notorious antiquities smuggler and art dealer Giacomo Medici, who was criminally convicted in 2004 of establishing one of the world’s largest and most sophisticated networks for trading in ancient objects.
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For nearly 40 years, Medici systematically looted ancient sites and sold the plundered objects on the elite end of the international art market. The 21 vases, for which a return has been agreed, were originally purchased in 1984 by the Antikensammlung Berlin, while suspicions were first raised publicly about their provenance in 1998.
The Apulian vases originally date from the 4th century BC. They are decorated with scenes from Greek mythology and were likely used as decoration for tombs and grave furnishings.
