German Woman Returns Stolen Ancient Artifact to Greece After 50 Years

TDT | Manama

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A German woman has returned the top of an ancient column she stole from Olympia more than fifty years ago, the Greek Ministry of Culture announced on Saturday.

The limestone artifact — a column capital measuring 24 cm high and 33.5 cm wide — was originally taken from the Leonidaion, a 4th-century BC guesthouse in Ancient Olympia that once hosted distinguished visitors to the sanctuary of Zeus.

The return marks the third repatriation of antiquities facilitated by the University of Münster in recent years. The official handover took place on Friday.

According to the ministry, the woman was inspired by the university’s previous efforts to return cultural artifacts to their rightful countries. “Motivated by the recent return of important antiquities from the University of Münster to their countries of origin, she decided to hand it over to the university, with whose valuable contribution it returned to Greece and Ancient Olympia,” the ministry said. Officials praised her “sensitivity and courage” in coming forward.

The University of Münster has previously returned two other significant Greek artifacts — a twin-handled wine cup belonging to a champion from the 1896 Athens Olympic Games in 2019, and a Roman-era marble male head from a Thessaloniki cemetery in 2024.

“This act proves that culture and history know no borders but require cooperation, responsibility, and mutual respect,” said Giorgios Didaskalou, a senior official at the Greek Culture Ministry.

Echoing the sentiment, Torben Schreiber, curator of the university’s archaeological museum, remarked: “It is never too late to do the right thing — the moral and the just.”

Greece has long pursued diplomatic efforts to recover cultural treasures removed from its lands, preferring collaboration over legal confrontation in its ongoing campaign for repatriation.