Naples, Italy – Hundreds of artifacts that were ever lost, pursued for decades by a special police unit, have been revealed for the first time in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, in southern Italy.
In its vaults, the museum retains 15,000 seized or confiscated artifacts of the black market over the years by a police unit focused on the protection of cultural heritage. It is the spoil of assailants that for decades have attacked sites of classical antiquity in southern Italy, such as Pompeii and Herculano. Some even used underwater metal detectors, GPS, sound and drones to extract treasures from shipwrecks and archaeological sites submerged in the Mediterranean Sea.
Since its repository, the museum selected 600 pieces to exhibit for visitors. Among them is a statue that had been in the courtyard of an apartment building from the beginning of the twentieth century until its robbery in the 1980s, and found in 2009. There are pompeii artifacts that a French archaeologist bought a local farmer in the 1990s for 50,000 lyrics (about $ 28 today). There are also old ceramics, coins, bronzes, marbles, ceramics, furniture, weapons and armor dating from the archaic period (approximately 650 to 480 BC) to the Middle Ages.
“It is a beautiful exhibition that tells a beautiful story, a story also of redemption for our stolen archaeological artifacts, which often find their way in private property or even international museums,” said Massimo Osanna, head of national museums of the Ministry of Culture of Italy, which helped cure the exhibition, in an interview. “Thanks to the work of the prosecutor and the police, together with the Ministry, (these artifacts) finally return home and are in light.”
In 2023, the last year for which there are complete records, the police unit recovered more than 100,000 artifacts that it estimates has a total of 264 million euros ($ 299 million).
