Ceremony held for statue of Marcus Aurelius

ANKARA

The bronze statue of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, which was smuggled out of Türkiye through illegal excavations in the 1960s, has been officially returned to Türkiye at a ceremony held at the Cleveland Museum of Art in the United States.

Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism Gökhan Yazgı announced on social media that the statue of Marcus Aurelius would return to its rightful homeland.

“The unique bronze statue depicting Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius in his philosopher persona, which was illegally taken from the ancient city of Boubon in the 1960s, has been officially returned to Türkiye in a ceremony at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Following nearly 65 years of scientific, legal and diplomatic efforts, the statue of Marcus Aurelius is finally returning to the Anatolian lands to which it belongs,” Yazgı said in a statement.

“Before its transfer to Türkiye, the artifact will be on display for three months at the Cleveland Museum of Art as part of a special exhibition. In July, it will be reintegrated into its cultural context here in Türkiye. Thus, the long journey of Marcus Aurelius will come to an end in the land where it truly belongs,” it added.

The statue is considered one of the rarest bronze artifacts from antiquity and stands out for depicting Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius as a philosopher. Originally located in the Sebasteion, an important religious structure of the Roman period, the artifact will be reunited with the land of its origin later this year.