Kore torso sculpture to be displayed at Ankara museum

A "Kore torso" — a statue body without the head and arms — that was auctioned in the U.K. and returned to Türkiye after being proven smuggled from the ancient city of Miletus in the western province of Aydın's Didim district, will soon be exhibited at the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara.

Experts of Culture and Tourism Ministry's Anti-Smuggling Department suspected that the marble Kore torso might be of Anatolian origin after it was offered for sale with lot number 65 in the catalog published for the "Antiquities" auction of Christie's Auction House in London on Dec. 8, 2021.

Thanks to the ministry's initiatives, the sale of the sculpture was suspended, and evidence and documents were obtained indicating that it was illegally taken out of Türkiye. Then the archive documents that would determine the origin of the artwork were presented to the British authorities.

Didim Chief Public Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation into the matter and requested the return of the artwork. Finally, the torso was returned to Türkiye in January this year.

Preparations for the exhibition of the artifact have been recently completed at the Museum of Ankara Anatolian Civilizations. It will be opened to visitors in the museum soon.

Zeynep Boz, head of the Department of Combating Smuggling at the Culture and Tourism Ministry's Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Museums, said that Kore is the name of Persephone in Greek Mythology and means virgin, and explained the process of the return of the artifact.

She said that when the work was offered for sale in 2021, they noticed the name of a collector known for smuggling and they followed up on the issue.

"This name gave us a direct opinion. Later, thanks to the archive...