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GETTY MUSEUM TO RETURN ANCIENT ARTIFACT TO ITALY
January 11, 2013 - 11:32 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - The J Paul Getty Museum has said it plans to return
to Sicily a terracotta head depicting the Greek god Hades after
determining it was clandestinely excavated from an archaeological
site in the 1970s, Belfast Telegraph reported.
The Los Angeles museum took the initiative to investigate the piece's
origins after seeing fragments in a publication that could join to the
head, which dates to about 300 or 400 BC, according to Timothy Potts,
the museum's director.
The Getty acquired the piece in 1985, and Mr Potts said it is believed
it was taken from the Morgantina Archaeological Park in Italy in
the 1970s.
The original location of the head was the site of the sanctuary of
Demeter, the Greek goddess of the harvest, whose daughter Persephone
was married to Hades.
The Getty purchased the piece from New York collector Maurice
Tempelsman. It is among more than 40 pieces the museum has returned
to Greece and Italy in recent years.
The terracotta body of Hades is undergoing an extensive restoration
at the Museo Archeologico in the Italian city of Aidone.
The head will be on view at the Getty Villa from April 3 to August 19.
It then travels to the Cleveland Museum of Art for display from
autumn until January 2014 before appearing in February at the Palazzo
Ajutamicristo in Palermo, Italy.
January 11, 2013 - 11:32 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - The J Paul Getty Museum has said it plans to return
to Sicily a terracotta head depicting the Greek god Hades after
determining it was clandestinely excavated from an archaeological
site in the 1970s, Belfast Telegraph reported.
The Los Angeles museum took the initiative to investigate the piece's
origins after seeing fragments in a publication that could join to the
head, which dates to about 300 or 400 BC, according to Timothy Potts,
the museum's director.
The Getty acquired the piece in 1985, and Mr Potts said it is believed
it was taken from the Morgantina Archaeological Park in Italy in
the 1970s.
The original location of the head was the site of the sanctuary of
Demeter, the Greek goddess of the harvest, whose daughter Persephone
was married to Hades.
The Getty purchased the piece from New York collector Maurice
Tempelsman. It is among more than 40 pieces the museum has returned
to Greece and Italy in recent years.
The terracotta body of Hades is undergoing an extensive restoration
at the Museo Archeologico in the Italian city of Aidone.
The head will be on view at the Getty Villa from April 3 to August 19.
It then travels to the Cleveland Museum of Art for display from
autumn until January 2014 before appearing in February at the Palazzo
Ajutamicristo in Palermo, Italy.