Cyprus displayed artifacts on Monday, some thousands of years old, returned after a Turkish art dealer looted them from the divided island nation decades ago.
Aydin Dikmen took the artifacts from the country’s breakaway north after Cyprus split in 1974, following a Turkish invasion triggered by a coup for union with Greece. The artifacts were kept in Germany after authorities seized them in 1997. Legal battles secured their return in three batches, the last one this year.
At the unveiling ceremony at Cyprus’ archaeological museum, President Nikos Christodoulides said the destruction of cultural heritage during conflicts becomes a “deliberate campaign of cultural and religious cleansing aiming to eliminate identity.”
The 60 most recently returned artifacts on display include jewelry from the Chalcolithic Period (3500-1500 B.C.) and Bronze Age bird-shaped idols.
Antiquities looted by Dikmen and returned include 1,500-year-old mosaics of Saints Luke, Mark, Matthew, and James. These are among the few early Christian works to survive the Iconoclastic period in the 8th and 9th centuries when most such works were destroyed.
Cyprus’ authorities and the Orthodox Church have been searching for the island’s looted antiquities and relics from up to 500 churches in open auctions and on the black market for decades.
The museum’s antiquities curator, Eftychia Zachariou, said Cyprus has recently benefited from a shift among authorities in many countries who now choose to repatriate antiquities of dubious provenance.
Image Credits:
• 1,500-year-old mosaics of Saints Luke, Mark, Matthew, and James via Cyprus Presidency
Featured Image Credit:
• 1,500-year-old mosaics of Saints Luke, Mark, Matthew, and James via Cyprus Presidency