A gold seal ring from Mycenaean times, bearing a pair of front sphinxes, was returned to Greece by the Nobel Foundationin a ceremony that took place yesterday, Thursday 19 May in Stockholm, as informed by an announcement of the Ministry of Culture.
According to the same announcement, the ring was found in 1927, during the excavations of the Italian Archaeological School in the Mycenaean necropolis of Ialyssos, Rhodes, among the offerings of Tomb 61. It was kept in the Archaeological Museum of Rhodes, as well as all the findings from the systematic excavations on the island. During the Occupation and Italian Occupation in the Dodecanese, the ring was stolen from the Museum, along with hundreds of antiquities, most of them coins and jewelry, which are still unknown. The investigations of the time to locate them were fruitless, despite the mobilization of the Archaeological Service and the Police.
Following in the footsteps of trafficking, the Rhodes Gold Ring was found in the USA, where it was bought in the 1950s or 1960s by Hungarian Nobel laureate Georg von Békésy.. After his death in 1972, von Békésy’s entire collection was donated to the Nobel Foundation and the works of art were donated to various museums, depending on their type. The Mycenaean ring ended up in the Museum of Mediterranean and Eastern Antiquities, based in Stockholm.
In 1975, the then Director of the Swedish Museum and distinguished archaeologist Carl Gustaf Styrenius found that the gold sealing ring from the Mycenaean cemetery of Ialyssos was in the Museum’s collection, he informed the competent Greek authorities are not clarified by existing files. The gold sealing ring, almost eight decades after its illegal removal, will be exhibited again at the Archaeological Museum of Rhodes.
As stated by Minister of Culture and Sports Lina Mendoni«The Nobel Foundation and the Swedish State with their decision to return the Mycenaean ring to Greece, in its country of origin, show their respect for modern Greece and the ongoing efforts we make to combat the illicit trafficking of cultural property. We are grateful for this gesture. It is an example of ethics and generosity for other institutions and museum organizations around the world».
«It was obvious to us that the ring had to be returned. This artifact has a great cultural and historical value for Greece“, He said Vidar Helgesen, Executive Director of the Nobel Foundationwho handed over the ring to Elena Vlachogianni, Head of the Department of Documentation and Protection of Cultural Property of the Directorate of Documentation and Protection of Cultural Property of the Ministry of Culture.
As the announcement of the Ministry of Culture continues, in the context of the search for information on the missing antiquities of World War II, a project that is in progress in recent years, the Documentation Directorate shook the case, searched and collected data from the archive of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Dodecanese. the Historical Archive of Antiquities and from any other available source. The gold ring was fully documented as stolen from the Rhodes Museum and the procedures for its claim began.
In close cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and Sports, the Greek Embassy in Stockholm undertook negotiations with the Museum of Mediterranean and Eastern Antiquities and the Nobel Foundation. The two Swedish institutions welcomed the Greek request from the beginning and willingly provided archival material, as well as any facility for the progress of the negotiations.. In this context, the ring was examined by experts from the National Archaeological Museum, who went to Stockholm for this purpose, and its identification with the robbery of Rhodes was confirmed, paving the way for his repatriation.
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