US returns two stolen ancient Greek statues to Libya

The United States announced on March 31 the return to Libya of two important ancient Greek statues that had been stolen in the 1980s from the archaeological site of Cyrene to be placed on the market. They are a Head of a Veiled Woman and a Bust of a Bearded Man, which had been part of the collection of the Metropolitan Museum in New York since 1998. The return ceremony was held in New York.

The works have a combined value of more than $500,000, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. Both pieces were owned by private collectors: one of the two, the Veiled Woman, the most important and oldest (it can be dated to around 350 B.C.), was in storage at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, where it had been on display since 1998. According to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, the work had been stolen in Cyrene, fenced in Egypt by an antiquities dealer known to U.S. authorities, and then placed on the New York market. In contrast, the Bust of a Bearded Man, worth about $30,000, from the 2nd-4th centuries AD, had been smuggled into Geneva before arriving in Manhattan. The works will now be displayed at the Cyrene Museum of Antiquities in Shahat, near the archaeological site of Cyrene, about 200 kilometers from Benghazi and 250 from Tobruch.

“These are more than beautiful artifacts,” said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, “they are windows into thousands of years of culture and deserve to be returned to their country of origin. Manhattan is home to some of the world’s most prized pieces of art and history, but they must be legally acquired. We will not allow New York to be a hub for antiquities trafficking, and we will continue to crack down on looting and smuggling worldwide in coordination with our law enforcement partners.”

“Thanks to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan,” said the Chargé d’Affaires of the Libyan Embassy in the U.S., Khaled Daief, “we are grateful for the opportunity to bring these cultural artifacts back home. We would like to express our highest appreciation and gratitude for the efforts undertaken by the Manhattan District Attorney and his staff, the Department of Homeland Security and all those who worked to ensure that these priceless Libyan artifacts return to their homeland, to the Shahat Museum.”

Pictured is the veiled woman’s head.

US returns two stolen ancient Greek statues to Libya

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