Eva-Redi
zizani with a twist
Reged: Wed
Posts: 1184
Loc: Adelaide, South Australia
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Κλεψιές και πάλι κλεψιές
Mon Oct 02 2006 02:33 AM
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Greek Police Recover Stolen Icon
23 September 2006
Greek police have recovered a priceless 700-year-old icon stolen last month in a daring raid on a cliffside monastery.
A Romanian man, arrested in Heraklion, the capital of Crete, following a police tip-off, confessed to the theft.
A Romanian man, arrested in Heraklion, the capital of Crete, following a police tip-off, confessed to the theft.
He revealed that the icon of the Virgin Mary was hidden in a house south-east of the monastery in Elona.
The celebrated icon, which some say has miraculous powers, symbolised Greek freedom during a 19th Century campaign to expel the Turkish Ottoman empire.
The icon was found secreted in a hole in a thick stone wall in the house where it had been stored.
According to the Public Order Ministry, the painting had not been damaged despite being cut from its wooden frame during the robbery on 19 August.
Police say the breakthrough in the investigation came when they received a tip-off. The suspect arrested in Crete was found with jewellery that had been placed on the icon as votive offerings, as well as photographs and film of the Elona monastery which investigators believe were used to help plan the robbery.
The BBC's Malcolm Brabant in Athens says the deeply religious people who worship at the Elona monastery attribute the discovery to the power of prayer. The Panagia, as the icon is known, is said to protect the inhabitants of the region and to cure the sick.
Dimitris Tsigounis, the mayor of Leonidio, the nearest town, said he was very happy that the icon had been found and promised a ceremony at the monastery next weekend to honour its safe return.
>> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5373666.stm
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Greek Police Recover Stolen Rare Icon
September 23 2006 at 03:21PM
Athens - Greek police have recovered a rare 700-year-old Byzantine icon stolen from a remote, cliff-side monastery in southern Greece in a spectacular robbery more than a month ago, authorities said on Saturday.
The icon showing the Virgin Mary holding a baby Jesus was stolen from the Elonas monastery in the Arcadia region of the Peloponnese, shocking a community which believed it performed miracles.
Police said the icon was found at a village in Southern Peloponnese where one of two people being questioned led them to where he had hidden it.
"The icon was found at Faraklo village in the Laconia region outside a country church", police chief Anastassios Dimoshakis told a press conference broadcast by Greek national television.
Dimoshakis said one of the two people being questioned confessed he had stolen the icon and hidden it inside a wall outside the church. He would appear before a local prosecutor later on Saturday, Dimoshakis added.
On Friday, two Romanians were arrested in connection with the theft. The thieves are believed to have suspended themselves hundreds of metres above the ground on the edge of the cliff using professional climbing equipment.
They then climbed on the bell tower of the monastery's church, broke a window and stole the icon, measuring 40 by 50 centimetres.
Local legend says the icon was painted by Luke the Evangelist and the monastery was built on the spot where a shepherd found it by accident around the year 1300.
>> http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=588&art_id=qw1159009740771B262
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Several months earlier >>
Priceless Relics Found at Greek Villa Linked to Smuggling Ring
Helena Smith in Athens
Wednesday April 19, 2006
The Guardian
A luxury villa on a remote Aegean isle beloved by jetsetters is believed to be at the centre of an antiquities smuggling web stretching from the Mediterranean to California, Greek authorities said yesterday.
Archaeologists with expertise in the Classical, Hellenistic and Byzantine periods were last night sifting through 300 priceless pieces found in the villa's basement as the country's culture minister described the haul as "one of the most important ever".
The gems, some dating back more than 3,000 years, included marble busts, statues, two granite sphinxes, icons, coins, and Corinthian columns and capitals from Greece, Turkey and Egypt.
The Greek culture minister, George Voulgarakis, said: "This is among the most complex and complicated cases of antiquities smuggling in recent years."
Overlooking a secluded cove on the isle of Schinoussa, in the Cyclades, the house is thought to have been handpicked by the late Christos Michaelides, an art dealer who lived with Robin Symes, a successful antiquities collector until his jailing in 2004. The property now belongs to Michaelides' sister, Despoina Papadimitriou, who lives in London and, her lawyers say, is willing to co-operate with the investigation. Following Michaelides' death in 1999 about 17,000 allegedly stolen artefacts were found in a collection of 289 warehouses owned by Symes.
Officials said yesterday that most of the relics at the villa were wrapped, perhaps waiting to be shipped away. The contents of an entire Doric temple were stashed in a container outside the two-storey house.
One insider at the public order ministry said the authorities hoped the finds would not only shed light on the dealings of Symes and Michaelides but on the "big rings" of antiquities traffickers with whom they were reportedly linked.
"It's just the beginning," a source told the Guardian. "There are other villas in Greece, Cyprus, Europe and even America that we've got on our hit list because this is about protecting our heritage."
Greek police were tipped off about the Schinoussa villa after questioning suspects over two houses police raided on Paros. One villa belonged to Marion True, the former curator credited with building up the Greek and Roman antiquities collection at the J Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, California. Ms True, 57, is now on trial in Rome on charges of knowingly buying stolen artefacts. Yesterday Mr Voulgarakis said it was "too early" to say whether the island haul was linked to her.
Ioannis Diotis, a leading prosecutor, is expected to file charges against a host of people from Athenian high society.
>> http://arts.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1756417,00.html
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Βρήκες ακατάλληλη στιγμή να με ανταμώσεις. Eγώ δεν έχω τίποτα, πάλι σου το θυμίζω. Mια καρδια μου έμεινε ♥ παρ’την, σου την χαρίζω. Δεν έχω όνειρο, ούτε φτερά για να πετάξω ...
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