RICHMOND, VIRGINIA—According to a Washington Post report, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) has relinquished artifacts in its collections to be returned to Italy, Egypt, and Turkey after an investigation conducted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Antiquities Trafficking Unit of the Manhattan district attorney’s office. The 44 objects include a 2,500-year-old bronze figure of an Etruscan warrior stolen from a museum in Bologna in 1963; a terracotta wine flask dated to 330 B.C. believed to have been looted from Italy; three coins stolen from Turkey; and a cosmetics container taken from Egypt. “This is not just our policy,” said VMFA director Alex Nyerges. “It is the right thing to do. We fully support the decision to repatriate these 44 works of ancient art.” For more on looted objects, go to “Letter from China: Tomb Raider Chronicles.”
