The artifact—a limestone column capital measuring 24 cm high and 33.5 cm wide—was originally taken from the Leonidaion, a 4th-century BC guesthouse that once accommodated athletes and dignitaries in ancient Olympia.
The University of Münster, marking the third artifact the institution has helped repatriate to Greece in recent years, facilitated the return. The official handover took place on Friday.
According to the ministry, the woman was inspired by recent restitutions of Greek antiquities by the University of Münster. She voluntarily handed the piece over to the university, which then coordinated its return to Greece. The ministry praised her “sensitivity and courage” in choosing to right the decades-old wrong.
In a statement, Giorgos Didaskalou, a senior official at the Ministry of Culture, said:
