There are days that require special attention. November 14 is one of them.

On this date, in 1970, the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property was signed in Paris. Recognising cultural heritage as a necessary element for the history and culture of peoples - fundamental for the sharing and knowledge of human diversity - the Convention establishes in Art. 2 paragraph 1 that:

The States Parties to this Convention recognize that the illicit import, export and transfer of ownership of cultural property is one of the main causes of the impoverishment of the cultural heritage of the countries of origin of such property and that international co-operation constitutes one of the most efficient means of protecting each country's cultural property against all the dangers resulting there from.

And even today, more than fifty years later, we celebrate the signing thanks to the International Day against Illicit Trafficking in Cultural Property, officially established by UNESCO in 2020 for 14 November. As we think about this day and the reasons that continue to lead more and more countries to ratify the text of the Convention, we would like to dwell in particular on one word in the above-mentioned article: collaboration. Emphasizing the international nature of this cooperation, the Convention underlines how mutual aid between countries with the same ideals and intentions is essential both to prevent theft or illicit trafficking of cultural goods (for example, through the creation of a special document that guarantees the authorized movement of a property from one country to another) and to return them in the event of theft.

The case of MArTA

This is a theme that closely touches one of our museums: the National Archaeological Museum of Taranto. The MArTA, the flagship in the Apulian museum scene, was at the center of a major media cycle in 2022 when, decades after his death, the sculptural group Orpheus and the Sirens, stolen in the same years in which the Convention on the Movement of Cultural Property was ratified, returned to its rooms.

Dating back to the fourth century B.C., it is a life-size terracotta sculptural group of admirable workmanship. To be represented are Orpheus, the mythical singer who with his voice was able to tame the most ferocious beasts, and two mermaids, represented here as hybrid beings halfway between humans and birds. To create the work, the sculptor probably drew on the myth of the Argonauts, of which Orpheus was a part, and the path that led him to skirt the island where these bird-women lived who, after trying to bewitch the unsuspecting sailors, were defeated by the voice of the hero, who enchanted them by preventing them from killing their companions.

The result of the cultural influences of the time, the group thus became a symbol of the victory of reason over irrationality, winking at Pythagorean philosophy and its vision of music as that element that, together with mathematics, involves the whole Universe in a harmony of shapes and numbers.

Theft, Sale & Gathering

The work was clandestinely excavated in the seventies in the Taranto area. Found in pieces at what was probably a funerary site of an adept of the Orphic cult, it arrived in the hands of a receiver in contact with organized crime. After several passages, it was taken to Switzerland and handed over to a restorer to be reassembled. It was later sold to the Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles through the intermediary of a Swiss banking institution.

To suggest that it was a stolen archaeological find, there were some recent interceptions of a well-known receiver by the Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage. Thanks to the investigations, the TPC soldiers discovered that the suspect was about to carry out some actions against the Italian cultural heritage and, upon a more in-depth analysis, they realized that he had participated in the clandestine excavation of the 70s.

Thanks to the collaboration with the District Attorney's Office of Manhattan (DAO) and the Homeland Security Investigations, the investigation continues and ends with the seizure of the work and its repatriation to the land of origin.

Back Home

The return journey of Orpheus and the Sirens begins on September 17, 2022. Finally back in Italy, the work was first exhibited at the Museum of Saved Art and then transferred to the National Archaeological Museum of Taranto, where it becomes part of the permanent collection on April 5, 2023.

A conquest not only for our country, but for the entire world of art and culture.

Protecting these treasures – the beating heart of our history and identity – is crucial to preserving cultural diversity and ensuring that future generations can fully enjoy the richness of our heritage.