Entitled "Homecoming" and on display at the Museum of Cycladic Art until October 31, 2023, the exhibition presents fifteen of the 161 antiquities, "of unique archaeological value" from the Bronze Age, which were part of from the collection of American billionaire and philanthropist Leonard Stern.

The return of these objects is part of an agreement negotiated by the Greek Ministry of Culture and approved by Parliament in September.

It provides for the complete collection to be exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (Met) until 2033, and then every five years for fifteen art objects to return to Athens in exchange for loans of Greek antiquities to the museum.

But this agreement has been criticized, in particular by the main opposition party Syriza which considers that the Stern collection has been exported illegally, and considered as the "laundering" of the fruits of antiquity smuggling.

For the Association of Greek Archaeologists, Stern is a "proven beneficiary of smuggled archaeological finds" and the deal sets a bad precedent by allowing wealthy collectors to avoid justice.

According to the association, the billionaire once owned a Bronze Age marble idol from Sardinia, then seized in 2018 from the collection of billionaire Michael Steinhardt for trafficking in illegal objects.

Photo released by the Greek Ministry of Culture on November 3, 2022 shows an exhibition of Bronze Age art objects from an American collection, at the Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens HANDOUT Greek Ministry of Culture /AFP

In the face of this criticism, the government claimed that if the case had gone to court it would have been unlikely that Greece would have received even a fraction of the collection as it was usually extremely difficult to prove conclusively an illegal provenance.

The Greek Ministry of Culture endeavors to conclude agreements for the repatriation of antiquities without resorting to legal proceedings.

Its main objective is the return of the Parthenon marbles to Greece held by the British Museum in London since the 19th century.

© 2022 AFP