Two stolen 18th-century icons returned to Greece from Lebanon

Source: AFP

From Greek City Times Website

Source: https://bit.ly/2NtQI1J

Two 18th-century religious icons depicting Jesus and the Virgin Mary, were returned to Greece from Lebanon on Tuesday.

The icons which are in good condition, were stolen from an exhibition in Athens in 2016. They were seized during an auction, a judicial source said.

Lebanon has launched an investigation, but it is not clear who stole them, or how they were brought to the country.

“The person who bought the paintings at the auction in Lebanon was questioned,” the source said, adding that the buyer was about to ship them to Germany “to sell them on at an international auction there.”

The paintings were handed to the Greek ambassador in Beirut, Ekaterini Fountoulaki.

Greece has retrieved several other religious paintings and scriptures worth thousands of dollars in recent years.