The Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, in the presence of the Minister of Culture, welcomed marble male head, Roman timesreturned by the Archaeological Museum of the University of Münster, Germany.

The figurative head (portrait) of a bearded man combines the characteristic headdress of the time of the emperor Trajan (98-117 AD) with the later flat rendition of the beard. It is dated around 150 AD, and is part of a funerary relief that comes from a cemetery in Thessaloniki or from its wider area. It is now permanently exhibited in the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, next to similar portraits.

The Roman-era marble head of a man returned from the Archaeological Museum of the University of Münster, Germany, is on display in the Thessaloniki museum

The Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni, in her speech during the handover ceremony, noted that “the repatriation of antiquities that
belong to Greece, but are currently abroad, is a matter of national importance and high political priority. International cooperation and synergies, through bilateral and multilateral agreements, for this purpose, are always supported and sought. However, each case of repatriation is unique.”

“Today’s return”, Lina Mendoni pointed out, “carries a special semiological dimension, as it is not the successful conclusion of a
claim process. In this case the Museum of the University of Münster voluntarily decided to return the head
in Greece. When it was established that its origin and course, before 1989 – the year in which it joined the Museum’s collection, as a donation from German citizens – was unclear and suspicious. Our German archaeologist colleagues took the initiative to investigate, in depth, its exact origin. Through modern physico-chemical analyses, they managed to establish and confirm that the marble, on which the sculpture was carved, comes from the quarries of Thassos, which strengthened their belief about its Greek origin.”
The Minister noted that this gesture “emphasizes, in an emphatic way, the importance of sincere cooperation between museums, scientific institutions and government agencies, in the common struggle to combat the illegal trafficking of cultural goods”. Addressing the Rector of the University Johannes Wessels, who accompanied the repatriated find, she said: “I hope that your own sensitivity and your own responsibility will be demonstrated by other Universities and other Institutions and other governments. And let us have the joy, all together, of welcoming antiquities and works of art, to their place of origin. The major universal values ​​on which the European Union is based are solidarity and responsibility. In this context, the return of cultural goods to the countries and peoples that gave birth and created them, is an attitude of responsibility and morality”.

The symbolic head (portrait) of a bearded man is the second ancient object returned to Greece from Münster – after
repatriation in 2019 of the skyfo that had been given as a gift to Spyros Louis.
Today, the skyphos is on display in the Museum of the Ancient Olympics, in Ancient Olympia. The ceremony was attended by the Rector of the University of Münster Johannes Wessels, the Director of the Archaeological Museum of the University of Münster Achim Lichtenberger, as well as the curators H.-Helge Nieswandt and Torben Schreiber, the Mayor of Thessaloniki Stelios Angeloudis, the Deputy Regional Governor of Thessaloniki Voula Patoulidou, the General Secretary of Culture Giorgos Didaskalou, the General Director of Antiquities Olympia Vikatos, the President of the Board of Directors of the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, Niki Manou-Andreadis, the General Director of the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, Anastasia Gadolou, the Director of Documentation and Protection of Cultural Properties, Vasso Papageorgiou and other officials of the Ministry of Culture.