COPENHAGEN.- The Italian Ministry of Culture and the Glyptotek are now entering into a far-reaching, cultural cooperation agreement which will safeguard and reinforce the academic exchange of archaeological objects between the Italian cultural world and the museum in Copenhagen. The agreement will expand the existing parameters for the acquisition and presentation of knowledge of the ancient world.

The agreement includes the restitution to Italy of a number of archaeological objects which have been part of the Glyptotek’s Collection of Antiquities since the 1970s. This restitution is only one element in an extensive cultural programme through which the Italian Ministry of Culture, by means of long-term loans of archaeological objects, offers the Glyptotek the opportunity to improve its already significant presentation of the ancient Italian cultural heritage. Furthermore, the agreement will strengthen the collaboration between archaeologists in the realisation of new forms of exhibition and scientific research projects.

The agreement is the result of the academic dialogue which has proceeded since the spring of 2012 between the Ministry of Culture in Italy and the Glyptotek. The agreement complies with the wishes of the Italian state for the restitution of a number of archaeological, primarily Etruscan objects which the Glyptotek acquired at the beginning of the 1970s through the international art market. Since that time investigations have shown that the objects had been unearthed in illegal excavations in Italy and exported without licence, which is why from a point of reason and common sense there is a consensus that these particular objects should return to Italy.

The restitution which covers, for instance, the famous princely tomb from Sabina, begins in December this year and should be complete by the end of 2017.

The restitution is part of a larger exchange programme between the parties, the intention of which is not to reduce the level or geographical range of the Glyptotek’s presentation of the ancient Italian cultural heritage to the public. And for this reason the cultural cooperation agreement includes a number of long-term loans of significant tomb discoveries from Italy which on a continuous, rotating basis will be featured in the Glyptotek’s forthcoming, large-scale, new exhibition of the whole museum’s collection of antiquities. Last, but not least, we will see an intensification of the museological and scientific cooperation between institutions in Italy and the museum in Copenhagen, just as the agreement will contribute to a strengthening of the already close cooperative relations between other cultural and research institutions in the two countries.

Dario Franceschini, the Italian Minister for Culture, said: “The agreement which we have signed today, has turned a crisis into an opportunity. The agreement surmounts a controversy by means of close collaboration - a collaboration, which on the one hand allows the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek a continual renewal of its presentation of ancient art to the public, while on the other hand allowing Italy to retrieve important artefacts to the area whence they came.”

Flemming Friborg, Director of the Glyptotek, said: ”What at first looked as if it would turn into a legal, political deadlock, has now, through an intense academic dialogue been transformed into a both powerful and visionary agreement. We are overjoyed with the far-sightedness with which we have been met by the Italian Ministry of Culture. Working together we have created an ideal climate in which to implement an agreement that will actually translate into new museum initiatives for the benefit of museum visitors and scholars alike, in both Italy and Denmark.”