The Metropolitan Museum of Art Returns Ancient Works of Art to the Republic of Italy and Spain

(New York, August 5, 2025)—The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced today that it is returning 14 ancient sculptures to the Republic of Italy, including nine Tarentine reliefs and two Egyptian figurative sculptures that were likely made in Egypt and then brought to Italy during the Roman occupation of Egypt. Three of the works being returned—a fragmentary terracotta column-krater (bowl for mixing wine and water), a terracotta antefix, and a fragment of a terracotta antefix—will remain on view at The Met as loans from the Republic of Italy. The Museum also returned two objects to the Republic of Spain: a harness pendant with confronted beasts made of leaded brass (500–600) and a harness pendant with mounted horseman made of copper alloy (6th century). The repatriations follow the launch of The Met’s Cultural Property Initiative, which includes undertaking a focused review of works in the collection.

“The Met is committed to the responsible collecting of art and the shared stewardship of the world’s cultural heritage, and has made significant investments in accelerating the proactive research of our collection,” said Max Hollein, Director and CEO of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. “The Museum is pleased to work together with our colleagues in the Republic of Italy, Spain, and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office on the return of these objects. The Met and the Republic of Italy have a long history of fruitful collaboration, and the Museum is especially honored by Italy’s generous loans, which will continue to be displayed in our galleries for the enjoyment and appreciation of our 6 million yearly visitors. Further, The Met is grateful to collaborate with Spain on this repatriation, and we look forward to continued engagement with our colleagues there.”

About The Met’s Cultural Property Initiative
In spring 2023, The Met announced a suite of initiatives related to cultural property and collecting practices that include undertaking a focused review of works in the collection; hiring additional provenance researchers to join the many researchers and curators already doing this work at the Museum; further engaging staff and trustees; and using The Met’s platform to support and contribute to public discourse on this topic. The Museum has since made significant progress toward these goals, including the appointment of Lucian Simmons to the role of Head of Provenance and the expansion of provenance research positions from 6 to 11, building on the Museum’s many decades of extensive provenance research and information sharing across numerous areas.

The Met has long engaged with countries around the globe as part of its commitment to the shared stewardship of the world’s cultural heritage and has established a number of key international partnerships. Earlier this year, following collaborative research, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Hellenic Republic of Greece announced the return of a 7th century BCE Bronze Head of a Griffin to Greece, which will be loaned back to The Met for an exhibition in 2026. The Met and Greece have also undertaken a landmark 50-year partnership with the Greek government and the Museum of Cycladic Art, regarding Leonard N. Stern’s Collection of Cycladic art that brought 161 stunning artifacts from the Leonard N. Stern Collection—which includes nearly all the major types of Cycladic marble figurines representing the Late Neolithic period to the end of the Early Bronze Age—to The Met for a long-term display, to be followed by a series of cultural exchanges and opportunities.

Other recent agreements include The Met’s initiative to transfer of ownership of two stone sculptures to the Republic of Yemen, which resulted in a historic custodial agreement by which The Met is caring for and displaying the stone sculptures until Yemen wishes to have them returned. Following that agreement, 14 ancient sculptures that were voluntarily repatriated to the Republic of Yemen from the Hague family collection located in New Zealand were loaned to The Met by the Republic of Yemen who requested that the objects be held at the Museum, where they will be studied and catalogued, until Yemen requests their return. The Met also recently initiated the return of a third-millennium BCE Sumerian sculpture to the Republic of Iraq in 2024, after provenance research by Met scholars established that the work rightfully belongs to Iraq and subsequently returned three ancient sculptures to Iraq the following year. Also in 2025, The Met returned two ancient works—Silver phiale (libation bowl) and a Silver oinochoe (pitcher)—to the Republic of Türkiye.

In 2024, The Met and the Ministry of Culture of the Government of India signed a Memorandum of Understanding outlining future cooperation on educational initiatives, exhibitions, and exchanges of scholarship and expertise, building on a decades-long partnership that has yielded many important collaborations, most recently the exhibition Tree & Serpent. Early Buddhist Art in India in 2023. The Museum has similar partnerships in place with the Kingdom of Thailand; Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments; the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Korea; and the Republic of Italy.

As part of a commitment to transparency, The Met has launched object webpages for all restituted works of art, specifying that the object has been returned and to what country. The Museum has also embraced a New York State law passed in August 2022 that requires museums to publicly identify any artworks in their collection that changed hands in Europe during the Nazi era (1933–1945) due to involuntary means.

Further information on The Met’s collecting practices and activities is available online.

About The Met

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.

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August 5, 2025