"Museum of Rescued Art" in Rome

Italy has been so successful in recovering ancient artworks and artefacts that were illegally exported from the country it has created a museum for them (Italy inaugurates new museum to house traded antique artworks The Associated Press 17 Jun 2022 ).

The Museum of Rescued Art was inaugurated Wednesday in a cavernous structure that is part of Rome's ancient Baths of Diocletian. The Octagonal Hall exhibition space was designed to showcase Italy's efforts, through patient diplomacy and court challenges, to get valuable antiquities repatriated, often after decades in foreign museums or private collections. Exhibits in the new museum will change every few months as the objects on display return to what experts consider their territory of origin, many of the places that were part of ancient Etruscan or Magna Grecia civilizations in central or southern Italy. The inaugural exhibit revolves around some 100 of 260 artefacts recovered by the nation's paramilitary Carabinieri art squad from the United States and brought back to Italy in December 2021. The pieces on display, which were found during clandestine digs and illegally exported, include exquisitely carved Etruscan figurines and imposing painted jars from several centuries B.C. The items previously were held by museums, auction houses and private collections. The new Rome museum is exhibiting objects "never before seen in Italy," said Massimo Osanna, director general of Italy's state museums.

The recently recovered antiquities are from before the Roman era, dating back to the 8th to 4th centuries B.C. Many of them came from the area near modern-day Cerveteri. Italian Culture Minister Dario Franceschini explained the decision to opt for a series of rotating exhibits in the new museum instead of establishing a permanent collection of rescued art. "We thought it's right to have the pieces return to the places where they were stolen from," Franceschini said. In some cases, experts don't know the exact original location of the antiquities, underlining the irreparable damage done when archaeological treasures are clandestinely snatched away. Pieces with unknown origins will be returned to the general geographic area.