In a heartening development for Greece’s cultural heritage, 86 antiquities have been voluntarily handed over to the Greek Ministry of Culture by a private foreign collector. The collection includes pieces dating from the Early Neolithic up through the Late Hellenistic period.

The artifacts are diverse and come from different parts of Greece. Among them are:

-Naturalistic female figurines from the Neolithic era

-Marble figurines and vessels from the Early Cycladic period

-Mycenaean pottery

-Bronze figurines spanning Geometric, Archaic, and Hellenistic times

-Bronze helmets of various types

-Bronze and silver vessels such as hydriai, oinochoai, and phiales

-Bronze mirrors

-Attic black-figure and red-figure pottery

-A marble funerary stele

-Clay figurines and gold funerary wreaths.

Culture Minister Lina Mendoni expressed deep satisfaction with the repatriation, welcoming the antiquities back to their homeland. She emphasized that this voluntary act sets a positive example and called on other collectors of Greek antiquities to follow suit.

Once the documentation and cataloguing are completed, the artifacts will be distributed to museums across Greece so they can be preserved and displayed to the public.

This act of voluntary repatriation underscores a growing international awareness of the ethical importance of returning cultural objects to their place of origin, and points to the possibility of further similar co‑operations in safeguarding Greece’s irreplaceable cultural legacy.