Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Egyptian PM Mostafa Madbouli: Egypt is targeted in plans to redraw regional map
AEOI Chief Mohammad Eslami: Our presence in IAEA General Council and fact-checking helped in preventing unilateral rhetoric that aims to portray Iran as an unregulated country
AEOI Chief Mohammad Eslami: We witnessed new, stricter stances from European countries since signing new agreement with IAEA
Saree: Our UAV force targeted the so-called Ramon Airport in the Umm al-Rashrash area in southern occupied Palestine
YAF spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree: Our rocket force carried out an operation with a Palestine 2 hypersonic ballistic missile targeting a sensitive target in the occupied Yafa area
Trump administration clears first Ukraine arms aid package paid for by allies: Reuters, citing sources
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman receives Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani at his office in Al-Yamamah Palace
Wakim: Surrender is not in our dictionary, and it is not true that "Israel" can implement its project in Lebanon and the region
Wakim: The US is preventing the armament of the Lebanese army. The question is, why are the weapons it is handed over by the Resistance being destroyed?
Wakim: The Resistance is required to hand over its weapons to the [current] authority. The question is: Is this authority independent or subservient to America?

$10m worth of antiques trafficked in the US return to Italy

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: Agencies
  • 17 Jun 2022 19:57
  • 1 Shares
3 Min Read

Italy has opened a new museum in Rome dedicated to displaying more than 200 objects thought to have been stolen from cultural sites around the nation and trafficked in the United States.

  • x
  • $10m worth of trafficked antiques fill new museum in Italy
    $10m worth of antiques trafficked in the US return to Italy

Italy has opened a new museum in Rome dedicated to displaying more than 200 objects thought to have been stolen from cultural sites around the nation and trafficked in the US.

211 of the 260 pieces in the new museum's rotating collection were found during seizures led by the Manhattan District Attorney's Antiquities Trafficking Unit, which estimates the value of the recovered artifacts to be about $10 million.

  • Eight of the artefacts retrieved (NYT)
    Eight of the artefacts retrieved (NYT)

The Museum of Rescued Art also houses the ancient city's 306 C.E. Baths of Diocletian. The 260 items from Etruria, Greece, and Rome, which are currently being returned to the Italian government in batches, have gone on display as part of the new enterprise's debut show. Some of the items came from private collections, museums, and auction houses.

Read more: 10 little-known facts about famous works of art

Related News

Europe stance toughened post Iran-IAEA agreement: AEOI chief

Colombia halts arms purchases from US over drug combat delisting row

Italian Culture Minister Dario Franceschini, Carabinieri commander Teo Luzi, and Massimo Osanna, director of Italy's state museums, officially opened the museum's Octagonal Hall display space on Wednesday. Franceschini described the artifacts populating the new area as having "intangible value" tied to Italy's "historical memory" during a news conference. He said that several of them had never been seen in public before.

Votive terracotta heads from the 3rd and 4th centuries B.C.E. and a red-figure Apulian vase representing Eros from the mid-4th century B.C.E. are among the more costly pieces on show. Other items on display include sculptures, urns, plates, and coins ranging from the eighth to fourth century B.C. Many of them come from places in Western-Central Italy that have Etruscan historical sites. Experts are still unsure of the dates when they were initially plundered.

  • Manhattan District Attorney
    Manhattan District Attorney

The Carbineri has been involved in efforts to repatriate art. Since its inception in 1969, the team in charge of dealing with antiquities looting claims to have recovered an estimated 3 million cultural objects.

However, in several high-profile incidents, the Italian police force has been challenged by US organizations. In 2018, an Italian court ordered the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles to return the bronze statue of a naked male known as "Victorious Youth". The museum disputed the judicial verdict on the grounds that the relic was first discovered on foreign seas.

  • $10m worth of antiques trafficked in the US return to Italy
    $10m worth of antiques trafficked in the US return to Italy

Michael McCullough, a New York-based lawyer who focuses on art restitution cases, told ARTnews that “It doesn’t always make sense to exhibit objects in a manner that highlights their removal from and return to the country,” adding that doing so may fail to attract long-term audiences. 

He claimed that "not all antiquities removed from Italy were high-quality objects worth looking at.”

Other governments have undertaken similar programs centered on returned antiquities, campaigning for the repatriation of other items from museums overseas in the process. Greece established an Athens museum dedicated to displaying its Parthenon marbles in 2009, emphasizing the absence of others taken in the nineteenth century. This year, Nigeria announced intentions to create an institution in Benin City to house Benin bronzes seized during a military raid in 1897 and currently stored in European and American museums.

Read more: 17 Mexican archaeological artifacts back home after 30 years

  • United States
  • Italy

Most Read

Pro-"Israel" conservative Charlie Kirk shot during Utah speech

American far-right activist Charlie Kirk shot dead during Utah speech

  • US & Canada
  • 11 Sep 2025
Uprising against Volker Turk at the Human Rights Council over Gaza.

Uprising against Volker Turk at the Human Rights Council over Gaza

  • Politics
  • 12 Sep 2025
A screengrab from the ad played on Fox News. (X Screengrab)

Fox airs ad warning Trump not to let Netanyahu 'play' him on Gaza

  • US & Canada
  • 11 Sep 2025
Lapid: Egypt’s Arab Force plan a 'severe blow' to normalization

Lapid: Egypt’s Arab Force plan a 'severe blow' to normalization

  • Palestine
  • 14 Sep 2025

Coverage

All
The Ummah's Martyrs

Read Next

All
Britain Trained Israeli Soldiers Involved in Gaza War: Declassified
Europe

UK training of Israeli officers sparks outcry over Gaza war complicity

Luxembourg's Prime Minister Luc Frieden arrives for an EU summit at the European Council building in Brussels, Thursday, June 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)
Politics

Luxembourg to recognize Palestine at UN summit next week

European Union flags flap in the wind outside EU headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025 (AP)
Politics

EU exec. branch to adopt new sanctions against 'Israel' on Wednesday

Charlie Kirk killing suspect faces charges in Utah court hearing
US & Canada

Charlie Kirk murder suspect faces formal charges in Utah court hearing

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS