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[PHOTOS] Sarcophagus on display in Antalya after some 50 years

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The Sarcophagus of Heracles, which was returned to Turkey after it was smuggled out of the country in the 1960s, was put on display at the Antalya Museum on Sunday, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.

The sculpture, which was seized by Swiss authorities during an inventory check at the Port of Geneva in 2010, was recently returned to Turkey.

The sarcophagus has a height of approximately 235 centimeters and a width of 112 centimeters and was installed at the museum in a ceremony attended by Culture and Tourism Minister Numan Kurtulmuş.

The Sarcophagus of Heracles, which is believed to have originated in the ancient city of Perge near Antalya in the second century B.C., is a Roman marble sarcophagus depicting the Twelve Labors of Hercules.

It was seized at the Geneva Freeport warehouse following an inventory check. The Geneva Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, which investigated the case, ordered the return of the Heracles sculpture to Turkey in 2015.

The decision was challenged by the Swiss Federal Court, but the appeal was withdrawn and a final decision was made in May 2016 for the return of the sarcophagus to Turkey.

The tomb, which was smuggled out of Turkey, has been returned to Turkey and transferred to Antalya to be exhibited at the Antalya Museum. Mustafa Ciftci / Anadolu Agency
With a height of approximately 235 centimeters and width of 112 centimeters, the 3,000-kilogram tomb has been dubbed “Torre Nove” in archaeological literature. Mustafa Ciftci / Anadolu Agency
Turkish Culture and Tourism Minister Numan Kurtulmuş attends the opening ceremony of the exhibition of the Sarcophagus of Heracles at the Antalya Museum, in Antalya, Turkey on September 24, 2017. Orhan Çiçek / Anadolu Agency

 

 

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