WORLD
US returns Heracles bust to Turkey
Baku, September 27 (AZERTAC). A US museum has returned Weary Heracles, an 1,800-year-old marble bust of the Greek demigod, to Turkey where it will be reunited with its bottom half, the culture minister said on Sunday.
The statue`s top half was being flown back on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan`s plane following his visit to the United States for the UN general assembly, Culture Minister Ertugrul Gunay told the Anatolia news agency.
“This artefact is currently being flown back on Erdogan`s plane,” he said.
“It`s a life-size 200-kilo statue of Heracles of huge archaeological significance.
It is to be transported to the Antalya archaeological museum where it will be presented to Turkish and foreign guests at a ceremony.” The bust shows the Greek mythological hero leaning on his club. The bottom half is housed by a museum in the Turkish city of Antalya, close to where it was first discovered. The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston`s decision to return the bust was a significant victory for Turkey, which has recently embarked on an endeavour to repatriate artefacts it believes were stolen.
Neither Erdogan`s office nor Turkey`s archaeological department were immediately available to confirm the bust`s return, which was reported by the newspapers Hurriyet and Sabah.
The Museum of Fine Arts says on its website that the bust was acquired in 1981 in Germany.
In 1990, an academic noticed the similarity with the bottom half of the statue, which was excavated in 1980 in Perga, near Antalya.