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Thursday, 10 April 2014 14:15

Getty Museum to Return 12th-Century Illuminated Manuscript to Monastery

A detail of the illuminated New Testament. A detail of the illuminated New Testament. J. Paul Getty Museum

The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles has announced that it will voluntarily return a 12th-century Byzantine illuminated New Testament to the Monastery of Dionysiou in Greece after learning that it had been illegally removed from the monastery over 50 years ago. The Getty acquired the manuscript in 1983 as part of a “large, well-documented” collection.

The Getty conducted research into the manuscript with the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports, which brought to light a 1960 monastery record that said that the work had been illegally removed. The report of the manuscript’s disappearance was never made public and no information was released to law enforcement officials or to any databases of stolen art.

The illuminated New Testament is currently on display at the Getty as part of the exhibition “Heaven and Earth: Byzantine Illumination at the Cultural Crossroad” and has been featured in 14 other shows at the museum. The Getty will return the manuscript to Greece after the exhibition closes on June 22. 

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