(New York, September 21, 2026)—The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced today that it will return a group of objects to the Hellenic Republic, as part of its ongoing efforts to review the ownership histories of objects in its collections.
The return of three works follows new information that emerged through the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office’s ongoing investigations and The Met’s own provenance research into works that came to the Museum from art dealers who have been under investigation, which contributed to determining that they should be returned to Greece. These works comprise a Hellenistic gold and garnet pendant amphora, Middle Helladic terracotta beak-spouted jug, and a Roman marble head of a veiled man from the first half of the first century CE.
The Met is also returning two helmets and three mitrai, or protective metal guards worn around the waist, that come from the site of Afrati in north central Crete in 1964.Dated to the late seventh century BCE, this Archaic Cretan bronze armor is believed to have been deposited in an Archaic Greek sanctuary at the site of Afrati, where rescue excavations were undertaken by the Greek archaeological service in 1968-1969.
A formal repatriation ceremony was held at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office on September 21, attended by Dr. Lina Mendoni, Minister of Culture of the Hellenic Republic, and Cate Dillon, Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs.
Lucian Simmons, The Met’s Head of Provenance, said, “Our understanding of an object’s history is never static, and new evidence can reshape what we know, helping us reassess provenance, as in the case of these works. This is why sustained research and open dialogue with colleagues around the world are so important, allowing us to clarify the histories of objects and determine the most appropriate way forward.”
Max Hollein, The Met’s Marina Kellen French Director and CEO, said, “The Met deeply values its productive relationship with our colleagues in Greece, as we continue to work together to deepen the understanding of Greece’s art history and heritage. This spirit of engagement extends even further, including the upcoming Across Wine-Dark Seas—an exhibition which demonstrates the many ways our institutions can create new understandings and connections. The return of these objects reflects the careful inquiry that is integral to our responsibility as a museum and to the stewardship of our collections.”
The Met’s longstanding relationship with Greece extends across object loans, collaborative scholarly research and the shared stewardship of cultural heritage. This ongoing partnership includes a landmark joint agreement for the display of the Stern Collection of Cycladic Art at The Met for 25 years. The upcoming exhibition Across Wine-Dark Seas: Art and Identity beyond Ancient Greece, opening at The Met on December 20, 2026, marks another chapter in this partnership. The exhibition will bring significant loans from Greek archaeological collections to New York, including a bronze head of a Griffin that was repatriated to the Hellenic Republic in 2025. The object will be displayed for the first time with two related griffin heads in the exhibition.
The Met and Greece
The breadth of The Met’s long-standing cooperation with Greece includes collaborative engagement across loans, scholarship, and the shared stewardship of Greek heritage. The upcoming exhibition Across Wine-Dark Seas: Art and Identity beyond Ancient Greece, which opens at The Met on December 20, 2026, and runs through April 11, 2027, traces a transformative period in Greek history that saw the rise of the Greek city-state, the Olympic Games, the early use of the Greek alphabet, and the compilation of the Iliad and Odyssey. The exhibition will feature major international loans from Greece and other countries to examine the ancient Mediterranean as a place of movement, encounters and artistic exchange.
Among the works being loaned by Greece is the Griffin Protome from Olympia, which The Met returned to the Hellenic Republic in 2025 following collaborative research into its provenance. The object’s return to New York for the exhibition, on loan from the Archaeological Museum of Olympia, is a testament to the continuing scholarly relationship between The Met and its Greek counterparts, expanding access to Greek cultural heritage for audiences in New York and beyond.
The Museum is also part of a landmark 50-year cultural partnership with Greece around the Leonard N. Stern Collection of Cycladic art. The agreement has brought 161 works, owned by the Greek state, to The Met on long-term loan and provides for an ongoing exchange of works between Greece and New York, alongside scholarly research, conservation expertise and opportunities for Greek scholars to study Cycladic art at The Met. Furthermore, in October 2025, The Met returned a group of ancient objects to Greece following new information arising from the Manhattan District Attorney’s investigation into Fortuna Fine Arts.
Provenance Research at The Met
Every one of the more than 1.5 million objects in The Met collection has a unique history, purpose, and context. Part of the Museum’s mission is to research and present the provenance of every object, enabling The Met to continuously expand and diversify the narratives presented in the galleries and on the website.
The Met’s provenance team—the largest dedicated team of provenance researchers of any museum in the world—works with The Met’s curators, conservators, and scientists, as well as internal and external partners, in conducting a systematic review of the provenance of the Museum’s holdings and ensuring that all objects entering the collection meet The Met’s strict collecting policies. The Met has long been a leader in the field, providing provenance information on most of our collection, with hundreds of thousands of objects available online. In recent years, these efforts have expanded the provenance of nearly 2,500 objects.
In cases where The Met learns—through its own research or from external sources—that a work should be returned to its country of origin, the Museum has a long and well-documented history of transferring works to their rightful owners. Further information on The Met’s collecting practices and activities is available online.
Cultural Heritage at The Met
One of the most critical areas of focus for The Met’s provenance research efforts is ancient art, archaeological materials, and other cultural property, including works of art from once-colonized areas. As part of its commitment to the shared stewardship of cultural heritage, The Met collaborates with countries around the world to exchange information, museological resources, collection care, object loans, and more. This collective understanding is deepened further through convenings with international experts, interpretive framing within gallery displays, and the global accessibility of research and object histories via metmuseum.org.
About The Met
The Met is currently ushering the Museum into the future by renovating one-quarter of its two-million-square-foot building on Fifth Avenue galleries. These reimagined spaces will tell new stories through the breadth of the collection, while improving visitor experience, infrastructure, and sustainability. This remarkable $1.5 billion capital campaign includes: the acclaimed Michael C. Rockefeller Wing for the arts of Africa, Oceania and the Ancient Americas (opened summer 2025); the new Condé M. Nast Galleries (opened May 10, 2026, with the inaugural exhibition Costume Art); new galleries for the Arts of Ancient West Asia and Ancient Cyprus (opening 2027); reimagined spaces for dining and retail inside a newly reactivated entrance off The Met's plaza (opening 2027); and the transformative Tang Wing for Modern and Contemporary Art (opening 2030). Learn more here.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in 1870 by a group of American citizens—businessmen and financiers as well as leading artists and thinkers of the day—who wanted to create a museum to bring art and art education to the American people. Today, The Met displays tens of thousands of objects covering 5,000 years of art from around the world for everyone to experience and enjoy. The Museum lives in two iconic sites in New York City—The Met Fifth Avenue and The Met Cloisters. Millions of people also take part in The Met experience online. Since its founding, The Met has always aspired to be more than a treasury of rare and beautiful objects. Every day, art comes alive in the Museum’s galleries and through its exhibitions and events, revealing both new ideas and unexpected connections across time and across cultures.