***Giovanni Legorano, in Rome, reports for The Telegraph:***
A German museum has requested the return of a Roman sculpture bought by Adolf Hitler but later given back to Italy.
Munich’s Staatliche Antikensammlungen und Glyptothek asked the National Roman Museum to give back the 2nd-century Discobolus Palombara, a copy of a long-lost Greek original.
Hitler was captivated by the statue during a visit to Rome in 1938, for its apparent embodiment of Aryan aesthetics. Despite refusals from Italy’s education minister and culture officials to sell the statue, its owner agreed under pressure from dictator Benito Mussolini.
The Discobolus, which was found in a Roman villa in 1781 and was owned by Prince Lancellotti, remained in the museum in Munich until 1948. It was then returned to Italy in 1948 as part of the works illegally obtained by the Nazis.
The German museum’s request for the statue comes amid a wider spat that started when the Italian museum asked for the statue’s 17th-century marble case to be returned to it.
The German museum declined and asked to have the statue back, prompting a furious response from the Italians.
“Over my dead body,” Italian culture minister Gennaro Sangiuliano, who must approve the return, replied. “It’s an absurd request because at the time the work was already restricted and couldn’t be exported.”
5 comments
***Giovanni Legorano, in Rome, reports for The Telegraph:***
A German museum has requested the return of a Roman sculpture bought by Adolf Hitler but later given back to Italy.
Munich’s Staatliche Antikensammlungen und Glyptothek asked the National Roman Museum to give back the 2nd-century Discobolus Palombara, a copy of a long-lost Greek original.
Hitler was captivated by the statue during a visit to Rome in 1938, for its apparent embodiment of Aryan aesthetics. Despite refusals from Italy’s education minister and culture officials to sell the statue, its owner agreed under pressure from dictator Benito Mussolini.
The Discobolus, which was found in a Roman villa in 1781 and was owned by Prince Lancellotti, remained in the museum in Munich until 1948. It was then returned to Italy in 1948 as part of the works illegally obtained by the Nazis.
The German museum’s request for the statue comes amid a wider spat that started when the Italian museum asked for the statue’s 17th-century marble case to be returned to it.
The German museum declined and asked to have the statue back, prompting a furious response from the Italians.
“Over my dead body,” Italian culture minister Gennaro Sangiuliano, who must approve the return, replied. “It’s an absurd request because at the time the work was already restricted and couldn’t be exported.”
**Read more here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/12/03/german-museum-asks-italy-hand-back-statue-bought-by-hitler/**
Thats why we get to keep the Elgin Marbles.
People did not take care of their stuff, now they all want it back.
Finders keepers, we got them fair and square. Want your stuff? Come and get it.
We will return the statue when the Brits agree to return the marbles to the Greeks ;)))
I wonder when Germany will hand back the Pergamon Altar to Turkey.
I wish Germans could muster this level of audacity and balls for more important political decisions