On Monday, June 17, 2024, the official ceremony for the repatriation of an ancient bowl to representatives of the Republic of Cyprus took place. The official handover of the skyphos was conducted in the presence of the Cypriot Deputy Minister of Culture, Prof. Dr. Vasiliki Kassianidou, the Director of the Cyprus Museum in Nicosia, Dr. Eftychia Zachariou, the Ambassador of the Republic of Cyprus Maria Papakyriakou, and the Alexander Malios Research Institute (AMRICHA gGmbH) at the Embassy of the Republic of Cyprus in Berlin.

The founder of the Leipzig Research Institute for Cypriot Culture and Archaeology (AMRICHA non-profit GmbH) acquired the ancient piece in the spring of 2019 from an American art dealer, knowing that it had been stolen from Cyprus. He was particularly interested in returning the bowl as he, being a Cypriot citizen, personally experienced the painful past of the island and has since been committed to raising awareness about the injustices suffered and fighting for a just future for his homeland.

In 1974, the Republic of Cyprus fell victim to a military invasion by Turkish troops. Since then, the northern part has been occupied and separated from the free south, an EU member, by a UN buffer zone known as the “Green Line.” In addition to the many civilian deaths and missing persons on both sides of the Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot communities, the Turkish invasion also resulted in the destruction and theft of historically valuable Cypriot art and cultural property. Churches were destroyed, their mosaics and frescoes removed and sold, and entire museums and collections looted. Many of the stolen objects were illegally transported abroad. One of these items is the now recovered bowl, which has been returned to the Republic of Cyprus as a symbol of the fight against illicit trafficking of antiquities.

The illegality of the bowl was discovered through intensive provenance and origin research of the object being acquired as part of the work by experts from the Leipzig Research Institute for Cypriot Archaeology and Heritage. A week after the object’s arrival in Leipzig and the final confirmation of its origin, the Department of Antiquities, the state antiquities service of the Republic of Cyprus, was informed during a meeting in Nicosia. Initial talks about the repatriation followed, eventually involving the Embassy of the Republic of Cyprus in Berlin.

The repatriated object is a so-called skyphos, a bowl-shaped drinking vessel approximately 2700 years old, of high historical value. The unique aspect of this piece is that it was not manufactured in Cyprus itself but was exported there in antiquity. It is further evidence of the Mediterranean island’s enduring importance as a hub for trade and cultural exchange since the Bronze Age.

The return of the skyphos is intended to set an example in the fight against the illegal trade in ancient cultural property. This trade remains one of the primary sources of funding for other criminal activities. The repatriation also represents the fostering of good relations between the Alexander Malios Research Institute and the Department of Antiquities of the Republic of Cyprus. In the future, this cooperation will be strengthened through the presentation of the Cypriot collection, comprising approximately 1600 objects curated by the AMRICHA non-profit GmbH, as historical ambassadors of Cyprus’s history and culture in Leipzig.

The AMRICHA non-profit GmbH is dedicated to the cultural networking between Germany and the Republic of Cyprus. It promotes various research projects, such as an archaeological excavation of a sanctuary in Frangissa, near the ancient city of Tamassos in Cyprus. In 2023, the first collection catalog was published, making an important part of the collection accessible to the general public for the first time.

Press Release from the Press and Information Office of the Republic of Cyprus on the Repatriation of the Skyphos

Homepage of the Department of Antiquities of the Republic of Cyprus on the Repatriation of Cypriot Objects

Additional information and photographs can be requested at the following contact details:

AMRICHA gemeinnützige GmbH

Windscheidstraße 2

04277 Leipzig

E‑Mail: info@amricha.com

Tel.: 0341 30 31 186

Der Beitrag Leipzig Research Institute Returns Stolen Artifact to Cyprus erschien zuerst auf Amricha.

Thanks to the tireless work of Dr Elena Poyadji-Richter, it has now been possible to scientifically process the first 320 objects from the private collection, which comprises more than 1200 objects, and make them accessible to an international audience. The work, which was made significantly more difficult in the context of the Covid19 pandemic, is now finally ending in a 487-page important work on the archeology of Cyprus and the immense collection of Cypriot Antiquities based in Leipzig, Germany. Amongst these artifacts are ceramics, limestone statues and statuettes, terracotta figurines, coins, jewellery, metal and glass objects. They date across all periods of ancient Cypriot art from the Neolithic to the Roman periods.

The work is dedicated to the Cypriot archaeologist Prof Dr Vassos Karageorghis, who died at the end of 2021 and who initiated this publication. At his expressed request, the catalog should appear primarily in English and German. The English volume is now finished and we hope that this book will help to remember his achievements for Cypriot archeology, at least to some extent — not least because one of his most important concerns was to make the archeology of the island of Cyprus better known worldwide and to publish foreign collections.

The publication is divided into two parts, with the first part containing introductory texts and reporting on the extensive provenance research on the collection objects and the different archaeometric analysis. The second part is the enormous catalog of 320 selected objects from the SAM, which are presented with over 770 photos and described and classified using the latest knowledge by 14 important scientists from the archeology of Ancient Cyprus. The artifacts published in the volume are characterized by their unique artistry and rarity among their type, yet are also representative of Cypriot art. Some objects reflect Greek influences, whilst others reflect an amalgamation of foreign influences.

Special thanks from the Institute go to Dr Poyadji-Richter and the other authors of the volume: Dr Peter Cosyns, Dr Sabine Fourrier, Alexander Gatzsche, Dr Anna Georgiadou, Dr Artemis Georgiou, Prof Artemis Karnava, Prof Vasiliki Kassianidou, Dr Gabriele Koiner, Dr John Lund, Dr Evangeline Markou, Dr Sergios Menelaou, Irene Pamer, Dr Nikolas Papadimitriou, Dr Joanna Smith and Dr Christine Winkelmann.

The richly illustrated publication with well documented essays and entries, intends to introduce to scientists and to the wider public a significant part of Alexander Malios’s remarkable collection of Cypriot Antiquities, one of the largest of its kind.

The official presentation of the book will take place on September 27, 2023 at the Archaeological Research Unit of the University of Cyprus in Nicosia. The exact procedure and access to this event will be informed separately in advance and the information will be supplemented at this point.

An insight into the contents of the book can be found here: Link to Academia.edu

Information and data about the book:

Der Beitrag First publication out now! Alexander Malios Collection, Volume 1, Cypriot Antiquities erschien zuerst auf Amricha.