On Tuesday, November 12th, the largest cache of looted artworks ever returned to Cyprus was repatriated, including church icons, frescoes, and mosaics. The 173 objects, taken from Orthodox and Maronite churches in the northern part of the island, invaded by Turkish forces in1974 after a coup d'état favoring Cyprus annexation with Greece, were welcomed in an official ceremony.
"Cyprus' Church celebrates the return of this treasure trove to its proper home after 40 years", said Archbishop Chrysostomos II, head of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus, who also thanked Pope Benedict XVI for his help in achieving the repatriation.
The religious art treasures will be on exhibit at the Byzantine Museum, which will also be in charge of their restoration. The Museum Director, Ioannis Eliades said that the items are of incalculable value, as they include fragments of a 1,500 year old mosaic describing St. Thomas and frescoes dating from 1,100 years ago featuring a number of unidentified saints.
Among other important works are Fourteenth Century icons of the Virgin of Mercy, originally from the Saint John Chrysostom monastery and a Sixteenth Century icon taken from the Church of Saint Andronicus.
The police discovered the religious art cache during a raid of the Munich, Germany apartment of Aydin Dikmen, a Turkish art dealer, in 1997. The treasures remained in the possession of German authorities until the property rights of the Church of Cyprus were established.