Greece recover 351 stolen antiquities from disgraced British art dealer
After a 17-year legal battle, hundreds of items are being repatriated to Greece after being owned by Robin Symes, the British art dealer who was found to be a key player in a criminal network transporting looted artefacts.
Announcing the news last week, The Greek Ministry of Culture stated that they had retrieved 351 items from the Byzantine era to the Neolithic period that were once in the possession of Symes. Included in the collection was a marble statue from 550-500 B.C.E and a large bronze statue of a young Alexander the Great from around the second half of the 2nd century C.E among many other objects.
“The repatriation of illegally exported cultural goods is a priority for the Ministry of Culture and the Archaeological Service,” the Minister of Culture and Sports Lina Mendoni had said in a statement, with the department focusing intently on the case over the past three years.
The initiative gained global attention earlier this year when Pope Francis returned three fragments of the Parthenon to Greece after the artefacts had been held in museums at the Vatican for 200 years. Vatican officials stated that the “donation” to Greece was aligned with “a concrete sign of his sincere desire to follow in the ecumenical path of truth”.
Symes was convicted of two counts of contempt of court and sentenced to two years in prison in 2005, serving only seven months.
