Twenty six antiquities that were illegally taken out of Greece in the period of Nazi occupation will be repatriated on Monday, November 20, 2017. The repatriation event will be held at the Greek Embassy in Vienna, said a Culture Ministry announcement. Eleven antiquities dating back to the Minoan Period, seven from the Classical-Hellenistic Period along with fragments of idols, clay vessels and jars and other are among the repatriated objects.

The antiquities are among those who were illegally removed in 1941 by the German general Julius Ringel from a Cretan museum and Villa Ariadne in Knossos and had been given by him at the University of Graz before 1945. The identification of antiquities became possible in recent work by the University of Graz on the recording and documentation of antiquities associated with Nazi activities during the Second World War. After identifying the objects, the University of Graz expressed in writing to the Ministry of Culture its intention to return the stolen antiquities to Greece.

The antiquities will be transported by airplane to Greece, with final destination of the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion.