New york: Two Cypriot antiquities were returned by the Art of Eternity Gallery in New York, for their repatriation, during a ceremony at the Embassy of the Republic of Cyprus in the United States.
According to Cyprus News Agency, a modest ceremony was held on Tuesday at the Embassy for the repatriation of two Cypriot antiquities, a Cypro-Archaic I (600 BC) quadriga chariot, and a Cypro-Geometric/Archaic (750 B.C.) flask, with the participation of US officials from the FBI International Operations Division, the Justice Department Office of International Affairs, and the State Department Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs.
Cyprus’ Ambassador Evangelos Savva expressed gratitude for the voluntary return of the antiquities by the Art of Eternity Gallery of New York and thanked its Owner/Director Howard Nowes and Director Dara Mayers, who were also present. He underlined appreciation to the Justice Department and the FBI for their cooperation in preventing illicit trafficking of antiquities and promoting cultural preservation, which was evident in the retrieval of these artifacts. This sentiment was echoed by FBI Section Chief David Lewis.
The occasion served to reinforce the importance of the Cyprus-USA bilateral agreement on the “Imposition of Import Restrictions on Pre-Classical and Classical Archaeological Objects and Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Period Ecclesiastical and Ritual Ethnological Materials.”
Last December, the Deputy Minister of Culture, Vasiliki Kassianidou, traveled to Los Angeles for the repatriation of another 266 Cypriot antiquities illegally exported in past decades, noting a growing trend of returning antiquities.