The world-famous Sabine Chariot, robbed from a tomb in the necropolis of Eretum in Lazio in the 1970s, is to return to Italy under a "historic" accord with Copenhagen's Ny Calsberg Glyptotek museum, Culture Minister Dario Franceschini said Tuesday. Exported from Italy illegally, the gold-decorated chariot has been on show in the Copenhagen museum for almost 50 years along with artefacts from the tomb of the Sabine prince it belonged to. The Copenhagen objects will start to be returned in December 2016 and the transfer will be completed by the end of 2017, sources said.
In return for the exhibits, Italy will loan the Copenhagen museum objects of equivalent historical and artistic value, they said.
Franceschini hailed the result of cooperation which had ended a long-running dispute. The tomb haul was trafficked by notorious Roman antiquities traffickers Robert Hecht and Giacomo Medici.
Italy has secured the return of a string of other finds sold by Hecht and Medici, notably by several top US museums including the Getty.
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