LOS ANGELES (AP) — The J. Paul Getty Museum will return a
12th century New Testament manuscript to a monastery in Greece after
museum officials said they only recently learned it was stolen decades
before the museum acquired it in 1983.
Getty officials said Monday
that although the Byzantine illuminated New Testament was acquired as
part of a larger, well documented collection, recently uncovered records
from 1960 indicate it was removed from the monastery illegally.
It
will remain at the Getty Center until June 22 as part of an exhibition
called "Heaven and Earth: Byzantine Illumination at the Cultural
Crossroads" before returning to Greece, along with numerous other
objects on loan for the show.
The announcement of its return was
made a day ahead of Tuesday’s scheduled press preview of the exhibition
that is to be attended by Greek Minister of Culture Panos
Panagiotopoulos.
"We applaud the Getty for their responsiveness to
this matter," Panagiotopoulos said in a statement. "Their decision to
return this precious Byzantine manuscript honors the spirit of our 2011
Framework for Cultural Cooperation."
In recent years, the museum
has returned several artifacts to Greece, Turkey and Italy that the
nations complained were taken from their countries illegally.
Museum officials say they have never knowingly acquired any artifacts whose provenance was in dispute.

In
the case of the New Testament, officials said its disappearance was
never reported to authorities and thus was never listed on any database
of stolen art.
"Over the past six weeks, the Getty Museum has
worked cooperatively with the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports to
understand the recent history of this manuscript and to resolve the
matter of its rightful ownership in a timely fashion," Timothy Potts,
director of the J. Paul Getty Museum, said in a statement. "Based on new
information that came to light through this process, the museum decided
that the right course of action was to return the manuscript to the
Holy Monastery of Dionysiou from which it disappeared over 50 years
ago."
Panagiotopoulos said the manuscript was copied in 1133 by
the scribe Theoktistos and is considered a masterpiece of Middle
Byzantine art.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights
reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The J. Paul Getty Museum will return a
12th century New Testament manuscript to a monastery in Greece after
museum officials said they only recently learned it was stolen decades
before the museum acquired it in 1983.
Getty officials said Monday
that although the Byzantine illuminated New Testament was acquired as
part of a larger, well documented collection, recently uncovered records
from 1960 indicate it was removed from the monastery illegally.
It
will remain at the Getty Center until June 22 as part of an exhibition
called "Heaven and Earth: Byzantine Illumination at the Cultural
Crossroads" before returning to Greece, along with numerous other
objects on loan for the show.
The announcement of its return was
made a day ahead of Tuesday’s scheduled press preview of the exhibition
that is to be attended by Greek Minister of Culture Panos
Panagiotopoulos.
"We applaud the Getty for their responsiveness to
this matter," Panagiotopoulos said in a statement. "Their decision to
return this precious Byzantine manuscript honors the spirit of our 2011
Framework for Cultural Cooperation."
In recent years, the museum
has returned several artifacts to Greece, Turkey and Italy that the
nations complained were taken from their countries illegally.
Museum officials say they have never knowingly acquired any artifacts whose provenance was in dispute.

In
the case of the New Testament, officials said its disappearance was
never reported to authorities and thus was never listed on any database
of stolen art.
"Over the past six weeks, the Getty Museum has
worked cooperatively with the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports to
understand the recent history of this manuscript and to resolve the
matter of its rightful ownership in a timely fashion," Timothy Potts,
director of the J. Paul Getty Museum, said in a statement. "Based on new
information that came to light through this process, the museum decided
that the right course of action was to return the manuscript to the
Holy Monastery of Dionysiou from which it disappeared over 50 years
ago."
Panagiotopoulos said the manuscript was copied in 1133 by
the scribe Theoktistos and is considered a masterpiece of Middle
Byzantine art.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights
reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.