GODDES VENUS-LIBYA

Libya to Get Back Its “Goddess Venus” from Italy Taken During Colonial Era
29/04/2007

Italy can return to Libya an ancient statue of Venus taken to Rome during Italian colonial rule in 1913, after a court ruled on Monday it was not part of Italy's cultural heritage.

The headless "Venus of Cyrene" was carried away from the town of Cyrene -- an ancient Greek colony -- by Italian troops and put on display in Rome.

Former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's promise to return it on a visit to in 2002 was blocked by legal action lodged by a group called "Our Italy," whose aim is to keep Italy's cultural treasures in Italian ownership.

Alessandro Ruffini, lawyer for the Libyan embassy in Rome, told Reuters the Lazio appeals court ruling that Italy did not have an historic claim to the statue was "well grounded."

The 2nd century statue of the goddess Venus is now housed in Rome's National Roman Museum.

The headless marble figure of the goddess of love is a copy of a Greek statue that has never been found, said Silvana Rizzo, an archaeologist at the ministry.

Libyan authorities requested the statue in 1989, but a protracted judicial battle ensued with a group that considered the work part of Italy's cultural heritage.

Last week, a court ruled in favor of returning the statue to Tripoli, the ministry said in a statement. No date has been set for the return.
In 2005, Rome returned to Ethiopia the 1,700-year-old Axum obelisk taken in 1937 on the orders of fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.

(The Tripoli Post)