Germany Returns Looted Antiquities from Berlin’s Altes Museum to Italy
Berlin’s Altes Museum has repatriated 25 antiquities, including 21 Apulian vases, that are believed to have been illegally excavated and smuggled out of Italy several decades ago. The German culture minister Claudia Roth handed over the objects to her Italian counterpart, Gennaro Sangiuliano, in a ceremony in Berlin. As a gesture of gratitude for the voluntary restitution, Italy is loaning two painted panels from Lucanian graves and bronze armor from the archaeological museums of Paestum and Naples. Roth described the returns as an example of cultural heritage protection in action, highlighting the importance of safeguarding cultural heritage from illegal activities such as plunder, theft, and smuggling.
The 21 Apulian vases were purchased by Berlin’s antiquities collection in 1984 from an art dealer in Basel. Investigations into Italian antiquities smuggler Giacomo Medici revealed that polaroid photographs of four of the vases were found in his Geneva office. Medici was convicted in 2004. The president of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, Hermann Parzinger, stated that while four of the vases were proven to be from illegal excavations, there are strong suspicions about the others. The vases, dating back to around 340 BC, are believed to be from the region of Foggia in northern Apulia, an area that has been subject to extensive illegal excavations.
The return loans from Italy of the Lucanian paintings and bronze armor were selected to complement Berlin’s museums’ collections. These objects shed light on the relationships between Greeks and indigenous Italian people during that period. The Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation noted that the addition of these objects enriches Berlin’s antiquities collection, particularly in the area of painting, which was previously underrepresented.
In addition to the repatriated antiquities, four other objects with different provenances, three of which are connected to Medici, are also being returned to Italy. Berlin’s state museums began a systematic investigation into the provenance of the state’s archaeological collections in 2023, with the aim of repatriating illegally obtained objects. A pilot project with researchers from Berlin and Turkey is examining the provenance of objects from archaeological sites currently held in Berlin museums.
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Elara Voss, graduated from the Royal College of Art in London with a Master’s in Fine Art. She specializes in contemporary sculpture and installation art, exploring themes of nature and human interaction. Elara’s works have been featured in several group exhibitions across Europe, and she is currently working on her first solo show.