The Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, in the presence of the Minister of Culture, received a marble male head of Roman times, returned from the Archaeological Museum of the University of Münster, Germany. The figurative head (portrait) of a bearded man combines the characteristic hairstyle of the years of the Emperor Trajan (98-117 AD) with the later flat rendering of the beard. It dates from around 150 AD and is part of a funerary relief from a cemetery in or around Thessaloniki. It is now on permanent display in the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, alongside similar portraits.

The Minister of Culture, Lina Mendoni, in her speech at the handover ceremony, noted that “the repatriation of antiquities that belong to Greece, but are currently abroad, is a matter of national importance and high political priority. International cooperation and synergies, through bilateral and multilateral agreements, for this purpose, are always supported and pursued. However, each case of repatriation is unique.”

“Today’s repatriation“, Lina Mendoni pointed out, “carries a special semantic dimension, as it is not the successful conclusion of a process of assertion. In this case, the University of Münster Museum has voluntarily decided to return the head to Greece. When it was discovered that its origins and its history before 1989 – the year in which it entered the Museum’s collection as a donation from German citizens – were unclear and suspicious. Our German archaeological colleagues took the initiative to investigate its exact origins in depth. Through modern physico-chemical analyses, they managed to establish and confirm that the marble, on which the sculpture was carved, comes from the quarries of Thassos, which strengthened their conviction about its Greek origin”.

The Minister noted that this gesture “underlines, in an emphatic way, the importance of sincere cooperation between museums, scientific institutions and government agencies in the common fight against the illicit trafficking of cultural goods“. Addressing University Rector Johannes Wessels, who accompanied the repatriated find, she said: “I hope that your sensitivity and your responsibility will be demonstrated by other universities and other foundations and other governments. And may we all have the pleasure of welcoming antiquities and works of art back to their place of origin. The major universal values on which the European Union is based are solidarity and responsibility. In this context, the return of cultural goods to the countries and peoples that produced and created them is a responsible and ethical stance.”

The figurative head (portrait) of a bearded man is the second ancient object to be returned to Greece from Munster – after the repatriation in 2019 of the dog that had been given as a gift to Spyros Louis. Today, the dog is on display at the Museum of the Ancient Olympic Games in Ancient Olympia.

The ceremony was attended by the Rector of the University of Münster Johannes Wessels, the Director of the Archaeological Museum of the University of Münster Achim Lichtenberger, as well as the curators of the H.- Helge Nieswandt and Torben Schreiber, the Mayor of Thessaloniki Stelios Angeloudis, the Deputy Mayor of Thessaloniki Voula Patoulidou, the Secretary General of Culture George Didaskalou, the Director General of Antiquities Olympia Vikatou, the President of the Board of Directors of the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, Niki Manou-Andreadi, the Director General of the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, Anastasia Gadolou, the Director of Documentation and Protection of Cultural Assets, Vasso Papageorgiou and other officials of the Ministry of Culture.