Turkey hopes to get back Sion Treasure

Turkey is hoping to get back the rest of Sion Treasure from Washington. The reasure is currently at the Dumbarton Oaks Institute in Washington, D.C. AA photo

The Antalya Museum in southern Turkey is hoping to get back the rest of Sion Treasure from the Dumbarton Oaks Institute in Washington, D.C.

The museum’s director, Mustafa Demirel, told Anatolia news agency on Wednesday that Dumbarton Oaks had a part of the Sion Treasure, adding that the Antalya Museum owned the main part of the treasure.

Recently, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts returned the top half of the Weary Heracles, Greek for Hercules, to the Antalya Museum. Turkey said the top piece was stolen from an archaeological site in Turkey in 1980 and smuggled to the U.S. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan flew the 1,900-year-old statue back with him at the end of a trip to the U.S. in September.

The Sion Treasure was found by a villager by accident in Kumluca town in Antalya province in 1963. The treasure, which was later smuggled abroad, was named from an inscription on an oblong “polycandelon” (multiple-lamp holder) mentioning

“Holy Sion,” possibly the church or the monastery for which the objects were intended. The monastery of Holy Sion was near present-day Kumluca. The museum director said that the Antalya Museum was located on an area of 30,000 square meters, and 60,000 artifacts were registered in the museum.

The Elmalı coins, which were returned to Turkey in 1999 after being smuggled abroad in 1984 and top half of 1,800-year-old Roman sculpture Weary Herakles, which was returned from the U.S. Sept. 25 , are on display at the Antalya Archaeology Museum