Maria Korologou, 'Louvre Exhibits Antiquities Stolen From Ligortina', Greekreporter.com September 10, 2013
They were stolen from Ligortina and today are exhibited at the world famous Louvre Museum. We are talking about the dozens of antiquities stolen in 1896 from Ligotirna and are now exhibited at the French museum and particularly in the Greek, Etruscan, and Roman collection wing. These findings belong to ditches that coincidentally were discovered in the region of Ligortinos, in the Messara Plain, Crete. They were crafted while Crete was under Mycenaean rule and were stolen from Greece. The issue has taken on bigger dimensions after the mobilization of the local cultural association with their intervening with the ministers of Culture and Sports and of Foreign Affairs. A New Democracy deputy from Heraklion requires answers to whether there is an explicit record of the objects stolen from Ligotirna, how many and what findings are exhibited at The Louvre, while Lefteris Augenakis asked for the antiquities to be returned from wherever they are displayed.
In 1896 Crete was under (failing it is true) Ottoman rule, but is that in itself grounds for the use of the verb "stolen"? But yes, by all means let a full inventory be made and published, together with documenting how they left Crete. Then, and not before, their fate can be discussed. Who's going to pay for it?
No comments:
Post a Comment