Smuggled artworks delivered to museum

ISTANBUL

This photo shows the 11-line inscription returned to Turkey from the US.

The head of a marble statue from the Roman period and an 11-line ancient inscription, which were smuggled to the U.S., have returned to Turkey and were delivered to the Anatolian Civilizations Museum in Ankara on Aug. 4.

The artifacts return journey began when the Culture and Tourism Office of the Turkish Embassy in Washington, D.C. received an e-mail from a U.S. citizen saying that his father had worked at the Karamürsel Air Base between 1964 and 1996, and had found the ancient artifacts when he traveled to the Marmara Sea, according to a written statement from the Culture and Tourism Ministry.

“My father died a few years ago. We found the artifacts when cleaning his house in South Carolina, and we felt they belonged in Turkey,” the email read.

Both artifacts were sent to the Culture and Tourism Ministry’s Cultural Artifacts and Museums General Directorate, and have now arrived at their new home, the Anatolian Civilizations Museum.