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In April, the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki will host a temporary exhibition, open until September, entitled “End to Antiquities Trafficking”. The exhibition will highlight the sensitive issue of antiquities smuggling by showcasing 170 stolen artefacts that have been confiscated. These artefacts are now in the collections of the Museum, the 6th and 7th Ephorates of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities and the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities. Moreover, archive material from the Directorate for Protection of Cultural Heritage of the Tourism Ministry will also be on display. The exhibition will feature six sections.The first three deal with the destruction of history wrought by the illicit excavation and trade in antiqities.
In April, the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki will host a temporary exhibition, open until September, entitled “End to Antiquities Trafficking”. The exhibition will highlight the sensitive issue of antiquities smuggling by showcasing 170 stolen artefacts that have been confiscated. These artefacts are now in the collections of the Museum, the 6th and 7th Ephorates of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities and the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities. Moreover, archive material from the Directorate for Protection of Cultural Heritage of the Tourism Ministry will also be on display. The exhibition will feature six sections.The first three deal with the destruction of history wrought by the illicit excavation and trade in antiqities.
“The Abduction of History” is the title of the first section of the exhibition, which will feature an overview of antiquities smuggling from antiquity to the present. 101 artifacts from recent antiquities smuggling activities will be featured in this section, most probably coming from an ancient cemetery of Macedonia.The other three sections focus more on the criminological elements of culture crime - including that involving ancient coins - it will demonstrate to the viewing public the economic dimension of antiquities trafficking and its linkage to global economic crime.
The second section, titled “Antiquities without a Past”, will showcase two stolen and retrieved golden wreaths: a golden wreath from a Thessaloniki Aristotelion University (AUTH) excavation at the Vergina archaeological site, which belongs to the permanent collection of the Archaeological Museum of Pella, and a golden wreath returned by the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles in 2007.
“Lands without History” is the title of the third section featuring five stolen Cycladic statuettes that now belong to the Thessaloniki Archaeology Museum’s collections.
The fourth section “Nostos without Homecoming” showcases an ancient Macedonian bronze shield, a male statue, documents and photographs regarding the first restitution of a stolen Greek antiquity in 1946, and reports to the international conventions of the International Court of Justice and UNESCO. Τhe fifth section titled “Forged Antiquity” will display 56 confiscated golden coins and will place emphasis on the economic dimension of antiquities trafficking and its linkage to global economic crime. “Learn and Save - Time for Action” is the title of the last section of the exhibition, which showcases the various ways of protecting antiquities, the relevant legal framework, prevention, information and education of citizens on the protection of cultural heritage artifacts.It seems to me the people who need "educating" are those who buy the stuff no-questions-asked and deny their responsibility for the consequences. It would be nice if there was a website (funded by the EU for example) which got that point over to a wider audience than visitors to this museum. Stella Tsolakidou, 'Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki to Host “End to Antiquities Trafficking” Exhibition', Greek Reporter March 29, 2012
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