The Department of Antiquities announced on Friday the repatriation of 36 artefacts from Stuttgart, Germany, illegally removed from the island between 1964 and 1968.
The items, including Early to Middle Bronze Age clay pots and Medieval artefacts, were returned by Eva-Maria Vaas, heiress of a former German Embassy employee in Nicosia who had taken them.
“The collection includes four clay lamps dating from the Cypro-Classical to the Late Roman era,” a department spokesperson told us.
Officials praised Vaas’s initiative and the Cyprus Embassy in Berlin for facilitating the return.
The Department of Antiquities emphasised the public’s role in identifying and returning such artefacts, urging those with information to come forward.
Cyprus continues to work with its National Committee for the Suppression of Looting and Illegal Trafficking of Cultural Heritage to safeguard cultural artefacts.
The repatriation comes amid ongoing efforts by several countries to reclaim cultural heritage items removed during colonial periods or through illegal means.
