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Athens News Agency: News in English, 07-04-18
CONTENTS
[01] Priceless artifacts returned to Ancient Agora
[01] Priceless artifacts returned to Ancient Agora
A poignant ceremony was held at the Ancient Athens Agora's Stoa of
Attalus on Wednesday to mark the return of six priceless black-glazed
ceremonial pottery pieces from the collection of eminent British
scholar and philhellene Martin Robertson.
The miniature artifacts were bequeathed to the Athens Agora's museum,
as stipulated in Robertson's will, following his death in December
2004. The author of the authoritative "A History of Greek Art"
(Cambridge University Press 1975), considered his magnum opus,
inherited the items from American archaeologist Lucy Talcott, the
recording secretary of Agora excavations in the 1930s and â40s.
The artifacts were officially presented by one of Robertson's sons,
Stephen, at the ceremony, who stressed that he was bringing a gift by
his father to "his beloved Greece". Stephen Robertson also drew a
comparison to the ongoing campaign for return of the Parthenon Marbles
to Athens, saying Wednesday's ceremony can demonstrate to the British
Museum's administration that a similar return of antiquities is not
impossible.
On his part, the curator of the Acropolis archaeological site,
Alexandros Mantis, expressed his thanks to the Robertson family, before
noting that the artifacts return marks the eighth repatriation over the
past year of artifacts taken from Acropolis-related sites.
Finally, Culture Minister George Voulgarakis expressed his satisfaction
with the fact the ceremony coincided with UNESCO's World Heritage Day.
Caption: A view of two of the ancient black-glazed ceremonial pottery
pieces, in this case wine cups, officially handed over to the Ancient
Athens Agora museum on Wednesday, April 18, 2007. ANA-MPA / M. KIAOU.
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