Met Museum Repatriates Five Pieces of Looted Cretan Armor to Greece

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York repatriated five pieces of ancient Cretan armor to Greece. The pieces were connected to a large-scale illegal excavation that occurred more than 60 years ago.

The artifacts include two bronze helmets and three bronze mitrai, or protective guards worn around the lower abdomen, dating to the late seventh century BCE. Of the three mitrai, one is decorated with horses, another with winged horses, and the third with sphinxes, while two of the three contain ancient inscriptions.

According to Greek authorities, they were removed from Afrati in the Viannos area of Crete during an extensive and illicit excavation in 1964. There, the armor is believed to have been deposited among an Archaic Greek sanctuary, where the Greek archaeological service later conducted rescue excavations in 1968 and 1969. Later, in 1989, the three mitrai were gifted by the Norbert Schimmel Trust to the Met Museum, according to the Greek Reporter.

With comparable finds from the Crete excavation now at the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion, the five objects’ return to Greece will make it possible to reunite works from the same archaeological context.

“Our understanding of an object’s history is never static, and new evidence can reshape what we know, helping us reassess provenance, as in the case of these works,” Lucian Simmons, the Met’s head of provenance, said in a statement. “This is why sustained research and open dialogue with colleagues around the world are so important, allowing us to clarify the histories of objects and determine the most appropriate way forward.”

In addition to these five pieces, the Met is also returning to Greece three more objects: a Middle Helladic terracotta beak-spouted jug, a Hellenistic gold-and-garnet amphora pendant, and a Roman marble bust of a veiled man dating to the first half of the first century CE.

Internal provenance research, along with investigations by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, informed the museum’s decision to return the additional works, as they came into the collection via now-questionable art dealers.

A repatriation ceremony was held on Monday, with head of the Manhattan DA’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit Matthew Bogdanos, Greek Consul General in New York Ifigenia Kanara, and US Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Cate Dillon, among the attendees.

“The Met deeply values its productive relationship with our colleagues in Greece, as we continue to work together to deepen the understanding of Greece’s art history and heritage,” Met director and chief executive Max Hollein said in a statement. “This spirit of engagement extends even further, including the upcoming Across Wine-Dark Seas—an exhibition which demonstrates the many ways our institutions can create new understandings and connections. The return of these objects reflects the careful inquiry that is integral to our responsibility as a museum and to the stewardship of our collections.”

These eight total antiquities are among 15 others that are being repatriated from the United States, according to Greece’s Culture Ministry, per the Greek Reporter. Since 2022, 179 Greek antiquities have been repatriated through the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.