Cyprus, June 12, 2024
Photo: churchofcyprus.org.cy
“Today is undoubtedly a historic day and a day of joy,” the Synodal Committee of Monuments and Art of the Church of Cyprus stated yesterday.
The Church is rejoicing because finally, after 27 years of labors and legal battles, the Church’s most important case of antiquities theft after the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus has come to a close.
According to the statement, the Turkish antiquarian A. Dikmen, with the cooperation of the occupying regime, looted more than 50 Greek Orthodox, Maronite, and Armenian monuments, antiquities from museums, and private collections.
Photo: churchofcyprus.org.cy Among the thousands of items seized from the properties of the antiquities group in March 1997 were 318 Cypriot relics, including 6th-century mosaics, 8th–15th-century frescoes, icons, altar doors, manuscripts, and other antiquities.
The extended legal battle began in 2004. A partial repatriation of Biggest haul of looted church icons back in CyprusA ceremony marked the return of the 173 items that were stolen from Orthodox and Maronite Christian churches in the Turkish Cypriot northern part Cyprus.
“>173 relics took place in July 2013, and another 85 pieces in August 2015. The final stage of the Dikmen case came yesterday, with the signing of an agreement between Cyprus and Germany for the repatriation of 24 Church relics and 36 other antiquities.
The relics will be repatriated on June 20.
OrthoChristian has reported on the return of stolen Church valuables to Cyprus many times. 6th-century St. Andrew the First-Called mosaic stolen in 1970s returns to CyprusA mosaic of Apostle St. Andrew the First-Called, dated to the 6th century, was stolen from a looted church in Cyprus’ breakaway north in the 1970s, but now has been returned, bringing spiritual joy to the Cypriot faithful.
“>In 2018, a 6th-century mosaic of St. Andrew the First-Called was returned; Relics of St. Mamas of Caesarea, saved from auction, to be returned to CyprusThe woman who consigned the reliquary to the auction house had been unable to trace its journey to Germany, but Paphitis learned that it had been stole, like many other art treasures and cultural artifacts, following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974.”>in 2019, relics of St. Mamas of Caesarea, which were also saved from auction, were returned to Cyprus; Stolen 18th-century Royal Doors repatriated to Cyprus from JapanThe Doors, complete with icons of the Annunciation, the Three Holy Hierarchs (Sts. Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, and John Chrysostom), and St. Spyridon were stolen from the Church of St. Anastasios in the village of Peristeronopigi by the Turkish occupation army and its collaborators and later sold.”>in 2021, 18th-century royal doors were repatriated from Japan to Cyprus; Cyprus: 18th-century St. John the Baptist icon taken in 1974 by British pilot is returned to ChurchThe pilot’s son handed over the icon to a representative of Archbishop Chrysostomos during a ceremony on Wednesday.”>in February 2022, an 18th-century icon of St. John the Baptist was returned; and Stolen 16th-cenutry icon of Christ to be returned to Cypriot ChurchYet another icon stolen by looters at the beginning of the Turkish invasion in 1974 has been found abroad and returned to Cyprus.”>in July 2022, a 16th-century if icon of Christ was returned.
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