As part of an ongoing effort to track down and return thousands of artifacts that have been pilfered globally, Cyprus has accepted receipt of priceless antiquities that were pilfered when the island was partitioned in 1974.
Authorities claim that following a Turkish invasion brought on by a short-lived coup with Greek influences, thousands of antiques, were taken and sold all over the world.
Recovered artifacts include church doors from Japan, bronze age artifacts from Australia,
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and precious early Christian artwork from northern Cyprus—now a breakaway Turkish Cypriot state—that was transferred to the United States.
Sixty relics, including a wall mural from a church and objects from the Chalcolithic and Bronze ages, were formally accepted by the authorities on Monday.
According to Cypriot officials, looting is a deliberate attack on the island’s cultural legacy.
‘Hundreds of places of worship and At a gathering held at the Cyprus Museum, a short distance from the line dividing Nicosia’s capital, Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides declared,
‘Thousands of artifacts have been illicitly exported from our controlled country, and historically significant locations have been looted.’
The whole collection of artifacts in the museum, which dates back to 9,000 BC, was removed and brought to Athens for safekeeping in 1974.
Items returned from Germany, where police discovered hundreds of artifacts in homes rented by a Turkish art dealer who passed away in 2020, are included in Monday’s haul.
A specialized task force of authorities searches the internet and auctions every day in search of warning signs.
‘The majority of the time, the items up for sale don’t come with a legal acquisition record to prove they were exported from Cyprus legally,’ remarked Eftychia Zachariou, the Antiquities Curator
In the late seventies, the removal of a mosaic from the town of Lythrangomi in north Cyprus was one of the most glaring instances of looting.
The sixth-century mosaic, which was among the few remaining examples of religious art in the area prior to the temporary prohibition of images and icons by Byzantine emperors,
was broken and sold after being chopped from the wall.
Since then, authorities have found several more artifacts, which are currently on display in the Byzantine Museum in Cyprus.
