Switzerland hands over suspected stolen marble sculpture to Libya

The sculpture is 19 centimetres high and dates from the period between the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD. Federal Office of Culture

The Federal Office of Culture has handed over the marble sculpture of the head of a young woman to the Libyan Embassy in Bern. The restitution took place within the framework of the law on the international transfer of cultural property.

The sculpture is 19 centimetres high and dates from between the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD. The object probably comes from the archaeological site of the ancient city of Cyrene in present-day Libya, the Federal Office of Culture announced on Tuesday.

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The cultural artefact was found during a customs inspection in a customs warehouse in Geneva in 2013, it added. The object was confiscated during criminal proceedings in 2016 on suspicion that it had come from a looted excavation.

According to the press release, it is a violation of the Federal Act on the International Transfer of Cultural Property to import stolen or looted cultural property into Switzerland or store it in a customs warehouse.

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