The private law issues arising from the cross-border movement of cultural goods were the topic of the first lecture of the Tamasion Free University in the Holy Metropolis of Tamasos and Orini, held on 15 October 2024.

Professor Nikitas Hadjimichael, Associate Dean of the School of Social Sciences and Education of the University of Cyprus, stated that the cross-border trafficking of cultural goods is a source of legal issues, which touch on sensitive political aspects and issues of identity, but also involve major economic interests. The lecture was devoted to one of the legal dimensions of the issue: the legal claim, before foreign civil courts, of objects or goods found abroad as a result of the action of a foreign state (invasion, occupation), theft, illegal excavation or illegal export. Civil litigation, he added, is the main battleground in this area, without ignoring the fact that similar legal issues arise in the context of either administrative proceedings for the return of goods or criminal trials (where the criminal dimension is usually used as leverage against traffickers but also as a mechanism for activating the prosecution and investigation mechanisms of foreign states and international bodies).

In the first part of his speech, Mr.Hadjimichael set the general theoretical framework, approaching the issue from the perspective of private international law and pointing out the weighting of values and interests that lead to a complex legal framework. Particular emphasis was placed on the critical legal points that raise problems and constitute pressure points for those seeking restitution, and on the strategies of international circuits to alienate cultural property by creating a chain of “bona fide” buyers with the aim of acquiring ownership.

In the second part, he examined specific cases, “easy” cases where synastry and diligence had a successful outcome and “difficult” cases where the claim was not successful, with emphasis on cases of Cypriot and wider Greek interest, such as the palimpsest of Archimedes and especially the saga of the Kanakaria mosaics and other legal battles fought by the Church of Cyprus, and the Republic of Cyprus, as a result of the actions of the Turkish antiquities thief-big dealer Aydin Dikmen.

The Tamasion Free University is organized for the 5th consecutive year at the Synod of the Holy Metropolis of Tamasos and Orini in the Episkopeio Community, by the University of Cyprus in collaboration with the Academy of Culture “Kypropedia” and with the support of the Cyprus Radio Foundation, the newspaper Politis and the University of Cyprus Radio Station UCY Voice 95.2.