In Greece, a 60-year mysterious history has come to an end - a fragment of a pillar, stolen from the ancient shrine where the Olympic Games were held, was found and returned to its homeland. This was officially announced by the country's Ministry of Culture.
According to reports, when a German citizen visited Greece as a tourist in the 1960s, he illegally took a small fragment of an ancient monument in Olympia. This very place - ancient Olympia - for several centuries was the birthplace of the Olympic Games and one of the centers of Greek culture.
The removed material is the upper part of the column, made in the Ionic style, i.e., the crown of the column. This architectural element belongs to the ancient building Leonideon, built in the second half of the 4th century BC. Its height is 24 centimeters, and its width is 33.5 centimeters.
The Greek Ministry of Culture stated that the excerpt was returned "due to the embodied woman's feelings of humanity and respect for the homeland." They assessed his action as an "example of sensitivity and courage."
It turned out that the woman's decision was prompted by the practice of returning historical artifacts to Greece by the University of Münster in Germany. For example, in 2019, the same university returned the Scythians to Greece, which were captured by the Greek athlete Spiros Luis at the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896.
It was also noted that a human head made of Roman marble, found in a cemetery in Thessaloniki in 2024, was returned.
The Ministry of Culture noted that such cases serve as an important step in restoring Greece's cultural heritage and returning illegally taken artifacts. The country is currently working on searching for hundreds of historical monuments around the world and returning them to their homeland.
The rediscovery of the Olympic Column is considered not only of cultural significance, but also a symbol of the restoration of historical justice.
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