A German woman has returned a stolen segment from an ancient Greek pillar more than five decades after she took it. It is the top section of a pillar, 13 inches wide and 9 inches tall. It was pinched in the 1960s from a fourth-century Leonidaion guesthouse. It was handed over on Friday, and the Greek Culture Minister confirmed it on Saturday. Greek officials from the ministry praised her “sensitivity and courage.” “Motivated by the recent return of important antiquities from the University of Muenster to their countries of origin, she decided to hand it over to the university, with whose valuable contribution it returned to Greece and Ancient Olympia.” It is the third artefact returned through the German university since 2019, CBS News reports. Giorgios Didaskalou, a senior Greek culture ministry official, said, “This is a particularly moving moment. This act proves that culture and history know no borders but require cooperation, responsibility, and mutual respect.” The curator for the University of Muenster’s archaeological museum said, “It is never too late to do the right thing, the moral and the just.”
