Orpheus mosaic comes voluntarily

The historical artefact which Minister of Culture and Tourism Ertugrul Gunay said was smuggled to abroad but coming back home as "The New Year Surprise" as a result of the efforts of the Ministry is confirmed to be the Orpheus Mosaic. The Dallas Museum of Art voluntarily returned an ancient marble mosaic in its collection to Turkey on Monday, after determining that the work -which dates from A.D. 194 and shows Orpheus taming animals with his lyre- was probably stolen years ago from a Turkish archaeological site The New York Times reported. The decision, part of a new plan by the museum to court exchange agreements with foreign institutions more actively, comes at a time when the Turkish government has become more aggressive in seeking antiquities it believes were looted from its soil. The Dallas mosaic, bought at auction at Christie’s in 1999 for $85,000, is thought to have once decorated the floor of a Roman building near Edessa, in what is now the area around the city of Sanliurfa in southeastern Turkey. Cemalettin Aydin, the consul general of Turkey in Houston, who along with other Turkish officials took possession of the mosaic at a ceremony in Dallas on Monday morning, said in prepared remarks that he applauded the museum’s “unwavering ethical stance.” He added that the restitution would lead to an active loan arrangement between Turkey and the Dallas museum.