After over 50 years away, looted statue of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius back home in Türkiye

Türkiye has recovered a bronze statue of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius that was looted from the ancient city of Boubon in the 1960s and held in the US for decades, the culture and tourism minister announced Saturday.

“It was a long fight. We were right, we were resolute, we were patient – and we succeeded. We gathered the necessary evidence painstakingly, and brought the 'Philosopher Emperor' Marcus Aurelius back to his rightful land,” Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said on X.

The statue was returned following a multi-year investigation that included scientific analysis, archival research, and eyewitness testimony. The process was coordinated with the New York Manhattan District Attorney's Office and the US Department of Homeland Security Investigations.

Ersoy called the repatriation “a historic achievement” made possible through the combined efforts of diplomacy, the law, and science.

“Whether at home or abroad, we will resolutely continue to protect all of our looted cultural heritage to the very end,” he said.

Ersoy added that the statue will soon be presented to the public in a “surprise exhibition” in the capital Ankara.

The statue, believed to date from the second or third century AD, was smuggled out of Türkiye after illegal excavations in the Golhisar district of the southwestern Burdur province.

It later entered the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art in the US state of Ohio.

Considered one of Anatolia's most important surviving bronze artifacts, the statue is unique for its depiction of Marcus Aurelius as a philosopher — a portrayal that holds special significance in Roman and ancient Anatolian art history.

Taking antiquities out of Türkiye, a cradle of civilizations for millennia, is strictly prohibited under law, with considerable penalties for offenders.