After a lengthy legal battle, 351 looted antiquities, from Neolithic to Byzantine times, will be returned to Greece, the Greek Ministry of Culture announced late Friday.
A large number of pottery shards will also be repatriated.
The antiquities, divided into 25 lots, were in the possession of British art dealer Robin Symes, whose company, Robin Symes Limited, is in the process of being wound up, according to a statement.
The Greek Minister of Culture, Lina Mendoni, explained that the legal battle to recover them had lasted 17 years.
Notable pieces in the antiquities collection include a Neolithic-era figurine carved from white stone and dating to 4,000 BC, a Cycladic figurine dating to between 3,200 and 2,700 BC, a damaged marble statue of a Kore, from 550 -500 BC, and a fragmented bronze statue representing a young Alexander the Great, from the second half of the 2nd century.
Greece is fighting to recover its looted works of art and antiquities scattered in museums and private collections around the world.
Three fragments of the Parthenon guarded by the Vatican for more than two centuries were returned to Greece in March, a gesture of friendship according to Pope Francis.
Fragments of the monument are scattered in various museums around the world.
But most of all, Greece hopes to get the turn of the friezes from the Parthenon in Athens that are in the British Museum in London.
London claims the sculptures were “lawfully acquired” in 1802 by British diplomat Lord Elgin, who later resold them to the museum.
However, Greece maintains that they were “plundered” while the country was under Ottoman occupation.
The restitution of the Parthenon friezes is a very sensitive issue in Greece. In the Acropolis museum, an empty space is reserved for him.