Repatriation of Ancient Capital from Münster, Germany

The repatriation ceremonial took spot connected October 10, 2025, astatine the Conference Center of Ancient Olympia (SPAP). The artifact, a fragment of an Ionic superior made of limestone, originates from the Leonidaion of Ancient Olympia and had been illegally removed successful the 1960s. The fragment, which retains traces of its archetypal coating, measures 24 cm successful tallness and 33.5 cm successful width. It shares stylistic features with different Ionic capitals from the site.

The Leonidaion, named aft its benefactor Leonidas from Naxos, is located extracurricular the Altis successful the sanctuary’s southwest section. It was the largest gathering successful the sanctuary (74.80 x 81.08 m), with diagnostic Ionic colonnades connected each 4 sides. Built successful the 2nd fractional of the 4th period BC, it served arsenic a guesthouse for salient visitors. Its bluish conception was uncovered during the archetypal German excavations (1875–1881), and the afloat excavation was completed betwixt 1953 and 1956.

The pistillate who returned the superior had collected it during a sojourn to the Leonidaion area. Motivated by caller restitutions of antiquities from the University of Münster to their countries of origin, she decided to manus it implicit to the university, which played a cardinal relation successful facilitating its instrumentality to Greece and Ancient Olympia.

The University of Münster has been a long-standing spouse of the Greek Ministry of Culture. In 2019, it returned the alleged Skyphos of Louïs, a cupful belonging to Spyridon Louïs, victor of the marathon astatine the archetypal modern Olympic Games successful Athens successful 1896. In 2024, it repatriated a Roman-period marble antheral caput originating from a Thessaloniki cemetery, present exhibited astatine the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki.

Dr. Torben Schreiber, curator of the University of Münster’s Archaeological Museum, reaffirmed the museum’s committedness to returning immoderate artifact proven to beryllium illicitly acquired, stating: “It is ne'er excessively precocious to bash what is right, ethical, and just.”

At the ceremony, Secretary General for Culture Georgios Didaskalos expressed his gratitude to the university’s representatives, stating:
“This is simply a profoundly moving moment. This enactment proves that civilization and past cognize nary borders but necessitate cooperation, responsibility, and communal respect. Each specified instrumentality is an enactment of justness and a span of relationship betwixt peoples.”

This voluntary instrumentality adds to a increasing database of akin actions successful caller years. The inclination reflects Greece’s continuous nationalist and planetary efforts to rise consciousness and mobilize enactment against the amerciable commercialized successful antiquities.

The ceremonial was attended by:

• Georgios Didaskalos, Secretary General of the Ministry of Culture
• Dr. Katja Sporn, Director of the German Archaeological Institute successful Athens
• Apl. Dr. Oliver Pilz, Director of the German excavations successful Olympia
• Dr. Torben Schreiber, Curator of the Münster University Museum
• Vasso Papageorgiou, Head of the Directorate for Documentation and Protection of Cultural Goods
• Elena Vlachogianni, Head of the Documentation Department
• Erofili Kollia, Head of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Ilia
• Archaeological Service officials and section authorities.