More than a 3,000-year-old gold ring with a seal stolen from an Aegean island during World War II crossed the Atlantic, was bought by a Nobel laureate Hungarian scientist and ended up in a Swedish museum, finding its way back to Greece.
It was the latest in a series of coups by Greek authorities seeking the return of works looted by the antique-rich country – although the Swedish museum’s initial efforts to return the ring apparently fell through the cracks of bureaucracy in the 1970s.
The Greek Ministry of Culture said on Friday that the Mycenaean-era gold piece from Rhodes, decorated with two sphinxes, had been readily returned by Swedish officials, who had fully co-operated in documenting the artifact and its origins.
Greek experts confirmed the identification and the piece was handed over in Stockholm by Vidar Helgesen, executive director of the Nobel Foundation, to which the ring was bequeathed by a Hungarian biophysicist.
The foundation, which presents annual awards for outstanding achievements in several fields, has donated it to the Museum of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Antiquities in Stockholm.
Greek Culture Minister Lina Mendoni thanked the Nobel Foundation and the Swedish authorities for the repatriation, saying it “shows their respect for modern Greece and our ongoing efforts to combat the illegal trafficking of cultural property”.
Found near the ancient city in 1927
The ring was discovered in 1927 by Italian archaeologists in a Mycenaean tomb near the ancient city of Ialyssos in Rhodes. The southeastern island in the Aegean Sea belonged to Italy until it was incorporated into Greece after World War II.
The Ministry of Culture and Sports said the ring was stolen from a museum in Rhodes during the war – with hundreds of other jewelry and coins still missing – and appeared in the United States.
The Greek Ministry of Culture said that the Mycenaean-era gold piece from Rhodes, decorated with two sphinxes, had been readily returned by Swedish officials, who had provided full assistance in documenting the artifact and its origin. (Henrik Montgomery / TT News / Reuters)
It was brought to the United States in the 1950s or 1960s by Georg von Beckezi, a biophysicist and art collector whose collection was donated to the Nobel Foundation after his death in 1972 and distributed to several museums.
Helgesen of the Nobel Foundation said there was no doubt where the ring belonged.
“It was obvious to us that the ring had to be returned,” he said. “This artifact is of great cultural and historical value to Greece.
The Stockholm Museum originally identified the Ialyssos ring in 1975 and contacted Greek authorities, the ministry said.
“But he stayed in Stockholm for reasons not clear from the existing archives,” the statement said Friday. The works of art will now be on display at the Rhodes Museum.
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