Woman Who Stole 2,400-Year-Old Greek Relic Returns It After 50 Years

A German woman who stole an ancient relic over 50 years ago from a tourist site has returned it to Greece. The returned item is a 2,400-year-old 9-inch by 13-inch piece of limestone column from the Leonidaion, a building in Ancient Olympia, the birthplace of the Olympics.

The artefact was stolen by the woman in the 1960s during a visit to the area. Greek officials said the relic was handed back during a ceremony at the Ancient Olympia Conference Centre, according to the Greek Culture Ministry. The woman was motivated to return the relic after hearing about recent incidents when antiques had been returned to Greece from Germany.

She contacted the officials at the University of Munster, who helped arrange the return of the item to Greece.

"This is a particularly moving moment. This act proves that culture and history know no borders but require cooperation, responsibility and mutual respect," said the Secretary General of Culture. Georgios Didaskalou.

"Every such return is an act of restoration of justice and at the same time a bridge of friendship between people," he added.

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Relics Returned

The University of Munster has now repatriated three major artefacts to Greece, adding to its recent returns of the Cup of Louis in 2019 and a Roman-era marble male head from Thessaloniki in 2024

Dr Torben Schreiber, curator of the Archaeological Museum of the University of Munster, said the museum was committed to returning any object that "proves to be the product of illegal trafficking". He added that it was never too late to do the "right, moral and the just thing".

The Leonidaion, named after its donor Leonidas of Naxos, is located outside Altes, in the southwestern part of the sanctuary of Olympia. It is the largest building in the sanctuary in terms of area