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Five Bronze Busts Stolen from Athens Cultural Center

bronze busts looted athens cultural centerThe numbers keep rising. To date, eight statues have been stolen from the Writers’ Park at the Athens Cultural Center.
Over a two night period from May 25 to 26, five bronze busts of prestigious individuals in arts, politics and letters are reported to have been wrenched from their marble stands. Sources say that looters used heavy machinery that enabled them to knock down their heavy bases and then use a grinder to remove the busts from their mounted stands. Despite all of the noise that must have accompanied the theft, it is reported that the incident went unnoticed. The busts had recently been restored and are feared to have been taken to an illegal smelting facility in Attica.
Previously in 2013 at the same location, the busts of Domenikos Theotokopoulos, Nikos Kazantzakis and Antonis Tritsis were stolen. These three busts were never found and are thought to have been melted down and sold as scrap metal, bringing in a profit to those who stole the artwork of around 100-200 euros per bust.
Sculptor Praxiteles Tzanoulinos who sculpted and restored the stolen busts of Kostas Ouranis, Costis Bastias and Dimitris Horn, spoke to Kathimerini expressing sadness and frustration about the recent spree of crimes and the cost of stripping the artworks from society.
“I have been very upset and extremely troubled since I heard of what happened,” Tzanoulinos said. “It despairs to me to think of the love, attention and dedication I put into those pieces just to have them end up as scrap at a foundry…For an artist, this is rape.”
Also speaking out against this most recent crime is Theodore’s Papagiannis, a Professor at Athens School of Fine Arts. Papagiannis sculpted the stolen busts of Yiorgos Theotokas and Angelos Terzakis and expressed much lament when speaking of the latest looting.
“We are living in age of barbarism. What happened in the heart of Athens, for the umpteenth time, is proof that we are a broken country where nothing is protected. As a teacher and an artist, I am ashamed,” Papagiannis told Kathimerini.

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