August 22, 2006

LOS ANGELES – The following statement is being issued jointly by officials of the Hellenic Republic Ministry of Culture and the J. Paul Getty Museum:

Michael Brand, director of the J. Paul Getty Museum, and a team of experts from the Hellenic Ministry of Culture announced today that documents transferring title of two antiquities from the J. Paul Getty Trust to the Hellenic Ministry of Culture – a Thasian relief and a Boeotian stele – have been signed.  The agreement was finalized during a visit by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture team to the Getty Museum on Thursday, August 17 and Friday, August 18, and signed on Sunday, August 20.

In July, the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and the J. Paul Getty Museum jointly announced an agreement by the Getty to return these two antiquities after an internal scholarly review by the Getty Museum concluded it was appropriate to do so.  Plans have been made for the two objects to be returned to Greece shortly.

During the two-day meeting, the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and the J. Paul Getty Trust also agreed to talks in Athens in the near future, at which time the two sides will discuss further claims asserted by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture for two remaining antiquities from the J. Paul Getty Museum’s collection, as well as explore mutual cooperation in areas of common interest.

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Ron Hartwig
Getty Communications Department
310-440-7360
communications@getty.edu

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