An incredible story of a ring stolen in World War II and recovered in Greece for over 3000 years

A 3,000-year-old gold ring stolen from an island in the Aegean Sea during World War II, crossed the Atlantic Ocean, purchased by Nobel Prize-winning Hungarian scientists, and arrived at a Swedish museum in Greece. i’m back.

Was the last A series of coups by the Greek authorities A crack in bureaucracy in the 1970s sought the return of works looted from a country rich in ancient relics, even though the Swedish museum first failed to return the ring.

The Greek Ministry of Culture said on Friday that Swedish officials who helped document the relics and their sources returned voluntarily. Mycenaean gold coins on Rhodes It is decorated with two sphinxes facing each other.

Winding Road

Vidar Helgesen, Managing Director of the Nobel Foundation, who confirmed his identity by a Greek expert and bequeathed a ring by a Hungarian biophysicist, delivered the work to Stockholm. A foundation that awards annual awards for outstanding achievements in various fields, Gave it to the Mediterranean and Near Eastern Ancient Museums In the capital of Sweden.

Greek Minister of Culture Lina Mendni thanked the Nobel Foundation and the Swedish authorities for their return.Shows his respect for modern Greece Our constant efforts to combat the illegal trade in cultural properties “

Would have been a ring Status symbol of a local aristocrat in the 3rd millennium BCWas discovered in 1927 by an Italian archaeologist at the tomb of the Mycenaean civilization near the ancient city of Ialysos on the island of Rhodes. The island in the southeastern part of the Aegean Sea belonged to Italy until it was incorporated into Greece after World War II.

Ministry of Culture said Ring stolen from Rhodes museum during the warIt turned out in the United States, with hundreds of other gems and coins still in short supply. It was there that he got it in the 1950s or 1960s Biophysicist and art collector Georg von Bekesy The collection was donated to the Nobel Foundation after his death in 1972, from which it was distributed to various museums.

Helgesen of the Nobel Foundation said there was no question as to where the artwork should be.

“It was clear to us that we had to return the ring. This artifact has enormous cultural historical value for Greece.” The Stockholm Museum first identified the ring of Iarisos in 1975, The ministry said it had contacted Greek authorities.

“”However, he stayed in Stockholm for reasons not clear from the existing files.‘, says a statement issued on Friday. The ring will be on display at the Rhodes Museum.

AP