and it was recaptured. 6 months later the occupation was hard. how can life go on after all the terror? not everyone can do with the fear we felt every day. when russia comes, start to august 25th on dw, the on may 20 is 2023, greece is culture ministry announced the restitution of a trove of looted arts, a total of $351.00 objects were to be returned to the country. they had previously belonged to the disgraced former art dealer. robin simes, the among them is a bronze sculpture depicting the ancient macedonian ruler, alexander the great,

the peace is su, spectacular. did it seem destined to go on display at the acropolis? but there was a problem archaeologist think it's a fake, the archaeologist stuff on lima, and has spent the last 20 years researching fake antiquities. we 1st met him in 2015 when he was still working at the university of how the in germany. here he was just finalizing a catalog listing suspicious bronzes for publication. the artworks had come from

auction houses, galleries and art dealer's as many had been laundered onto the market by robin symes, the art dealer authorities also sees the alexander busts from lima and believes the bronzes are forgeries, the works of an expert, forger, or ford. yours known in art circles as the spanish master. their identity remains a mystery to this day. the spanish master often makes bronze is of ancient rulers, like emperor augustus. their faces are covered in a convincing path now and so well preserved. it's almost a miracle. follow some ice, the note number a kind of vanish monster is just to make shift named. no one knows who they are or where they're from. it's a name, i've heard a lot in the art trade. so the book, this one was an abundance auction. these head came from robin symes and was on sale

in new york and the december auction. the gets involved to own this home. uh, and that was sold over the counter and then you, you can take store if you're taking level move on to that one was in a munich auction to him in 2015 lehman was a professor at the university of holla and also keeping a close eye on antiquities that came onto the market, each listed for a considerable sum, screwed up class. prices started around a 1000000 by whitening they own on the months research often took him to switzerland and important center of our trade. the city of bozza was then home to coast of leon and our dealer, an archaeologist, with over 40 years of experience who had sold many antiquities to international museums. in 2015 leon decided to do something unusual for an art

dealer that he opened up to us about what he was seen at international options. this in the past, it's only a few of these pieces, a genuine ink for let's go through them quickly. right. this is a fake, as we'll see how blurry it is now it's called through in antiquity was like that big scoop to meet those kinds of a guessing kind. and no secret from antiquity looks like that. ok with those big bulging eyes. it's a joy. can that be those into closer look at the has they had always gives it away . as a human and by those boxes are okay for longer all packaged things, but this is so fake, it stinks. there's no way it's all fake, and that's true. and they said to some kind of, none of these are antiquities that uh that, that she and izzy. this is another here,

does made music with the organs bulging through the cloth. this is, that was never done in ancient times. it was always to sneak about buttons as i live all day and saw the few genuine ones and all the facts, e as name of the $47000.83. and that's big money. and because of the fact we might do that, everyone keeps the mouth shut and nobody says, hey, what's up, buddy? what you have there is a disaster. you've squandered your money. the oven by 9, by at the office who i've always tried to abide by certain rules in my work. i didn't do all the things other people in my field were doing because i knew that at some point it would blow up in my face. the the

think i'm know, salaries arts, there's an a bundle options we met most corolla in 2015 in his manhattan apartment. he had been a curator at the metropolitan museum of art for many years and was known for his expertise as well as his honesty. he openly criticized the our trade and was seen as a kind of whistle blower by one of my mentors. sherlock holmes, i have learned that both deals and flexible, some things to watch. and i was just across the forgeries. i talked to a deal about this once the smiled and what they're doing,

you see instead of selling it to a customer from their own shop, they don't want to sell for which we don't want to solve, which a lot of dealers don't want. don't want to sell to warranty. they put it up for auction on the false name for let's say from adult collection the, when it says the, the for the nonce from an old family collection or from an all collection off of a missed your ex or, and this, the deal is, was selling the forward you an option and not being personally involved and who buys it just in america because it has so many museums is a prime target for the sale of full address. yes. the bronze bust of alexander, the great, also came from the new york art market from the gallery of dealer robin signs stuff . a name on 1st saw it in the year, 2000, not in new york, but in the town of shed. and in eastern germany,

it was exhibited at the bank among museum without information on where it had come from lima and asked the museum about its prominence, but got new answers. he concluded the piece was illegitimate either because it was looted art or because it was a fake before the all happened younger quote. the 1st time i was there and took a look. this is and to me it just scream soldier involved. and i was quite as a donation, so i bought the catalog and found that even less convincing if i but then i more or less the ghost is again, on the also, i mean, there are many forgeries. and even the best of us console for a fake, it can happen at the highest level. there's nothing more to say other guy now, but if you could see that was the on test. so i publish the lecture that i gave here in holland, in the form of i'm using and booklet. and i said that in my opinion,

there is no way that the pacing question is from the ancient 12 and organ or not teachers over in the hospital. and tom mt table and say plastic optics on those does goals in order to fax them an internet to non constant bluff shop. noun. 14, john, you can find scouts these. the plastic, the hudson's. that's you wouldn't owe school. stayed in thinking about them. we'll see them as like of it, and it's believe on some of this because he's the 1st to out of the faithfulness for bills as it cannot be for them. i think we covered this business obviously. so hope you'd see it as a fuel by well, my new face on conduct, on a full, i'm don't know. do you think i'm on? because that have to want to look for good. it gives you the right to to ask you what to keeps going. the noun, i got along of what it says on. these are focused on some, even given time for me to avoid it and decided to establish on know if there's like a good leaving the for mine to ship all so that you won't be stuck else to them. 14 got them for showing this isn't just for the cops, isn't not just the head is it is practically a bust on that being said much more and has been preserved as

a downside 1000. you 2000 prizes were already quite high. it is. i'd say an original piece like this, right. and alexander in bronze would have gone for between 15 and 25000000 to which ones you can easily let me things by displaying the bronze of alexander the museum, gave it legitimacy. even though it was acquired through a dealer, and there was no documentation about its provenance, lima, and felt the museum was allowing itself to be used as a kind of money laundry for art. a specimen done english to speak to scientists and miss all fucked to go down the legal route. just assuming that was something new, i must the same phone and in a certain way, it's a form of violence. definitely the result of this is give us a, give us a phone phone, provide the file that was also the intention. loya for the plaintive told me that

the aim was to have me removed from my post in archaeological circles for jerry is an unpopular topic. but after the trial word got around that lehman was addressing the issue publicly and a switch collector who wished to remain anonymous, sent lima a bronze, had to investigate. the collector had bought the piece in new york in 1993 and had doubts about whether it was genuine. the portrait is an emperor augustus being able to examine it was a rare opportunity for layman and his colleague, fellow archaeologist henley,

clara, by sending the word to lima instead of selling it onto someone else. this was collect or risk losing a lot of money. interesting pace. if genuine, the head would be worth a good 1000000, a fake. it'd be worth little more than the material. perhaps 500 euros. this is this on 0, but certainly very impressive. the 1st thing you say when you see it is that it's a wonderful head and in a special because there are very few bronze hayes of old cost as which would increase its value. so for this, i'll post post to seek to all send via that explains why for interest i made you say, and forge was a sold all over the place. and the car step there that there's a market for it because museums and collect the supply. we're talking money, money, money is the underlying factor. and the reason this is the only rich people have

the money to pay for it. and these best people to get further advantage by donating it, taking a tax deduction and shooting, getting prestige. and this goes on and on and on as we're sitting here, it exists at this very moment. lima and suspected that the spanish master could have made the bronze had his research also provide insight into the for jurors market strategies. first of our stuff, this bothers from last us. the spanish, most as full jury would shop thinks about which objects it will produce for the market. navea told in the ranking of ocoee logic, a lot of faxes from scouts has a number one community successor. this is a very special cases to defend, so you'd expect them to attract a lot of attention. increased grimace. she has

a grumpy expression. that's not the ideal we'd imagine for all gust, as you can tell, the artist is playing with the motions to assume that it's a fantastic piece of processes. me in the votes of the university and how to there's a collection of plaster casts of original antiquities. these correspond exactly to the genuine ancient portraits, lima and compared the bronze head from switzerland, with this genuine like this of emperor augustus. archaeologists call this method stylistic analysis. it's a centuries old approach, used to identify genuine works of art simply by looking at them.

it takes decades of experience, a wealth of knowledge and intuition is in the office. you have this, you can see here what's an official portray to of old cost as looks like the eyes on very odd. they just have a slight cuz we, the nose is alone and the mouth is oriented towards the vertical axis. the facial expression is very calm, with only slightly raised comfortable as we move and slice to. there's only very light modeling which conveys a calm, timeless face. it was diseased and then we have the jagged edge at the bottom of the dental, but allegedly turn off with great force

of the associates, the tires, of looking at these details. you begin to doubt whether it is a faint it's being made perfectly. it's most certainly but definitely in layman's archaeological expertise, told him that the head was a fake. and having the object in hand meant he could have the material of a suspected spanish master forgery, analyzed for the very 1st time the phone hoof institute ensued specializes in carrying out computer tomography or c t

scans. usually the scientists here test industrial products. the disputed alexander bust couldn't be analyzed during the trial because it went missing. following the exhibition computers are a patient ready for his scan. that's good. good. now, physicist and material scientist hi. mila, will examine another suspected forgery. the head of augustus. this hall is essentially one giant c t scanner, one of the most powerful in the world, the, the scanner had the radiation levels are extremely high. so the scientists leave the hall and seal the doors. the,

the, the analysis focuses on the bronze alloy to see if it has the characteristics of bronze created 2000 years ago. but even if it does look for jurors are believe to meltdown ancient coins and use the metal to make new hands. like celebration voltage, 9 electronic balls, 90 v, which device on texas and trucking. it's a tucking element detector with $200.00 micro made a pick, so pitch pitch it came off. and now this, this quinta, from a range of the material characteristics correspond with antiquity. so we believe that this sculpture is made of genuine ancient material. i just meant title by side . you could find ancient metal to use for this. so, okay,

so we know you'll get done as using old materials for forgeries. isn't an entirely new idea using here's a hole. you can see it here, but you wouldn't be able to through the crust. of course, a holes been chiseled out in a structured way as well. something was loaded in mindfulness and 9 capacity. yes. so you can see the edges of the inserts and paste my teeth. this is my thing i know . and this material has a different density to the material surrounding it, which has a different ally, compositions plus you're kind of kind of showing those who dishonest. i'm carried out metallic graphic tests on a cross section of the materials and the outer crust. the reason for one thing we determine that the corrosion which looks very bad to the naked eye, is only on the surface is so sees that leads us to conclude that this artifact was

created in modern times and designed to look very old the, the test showed the bronze sculpture of augustus to be a think the at the time, steph, i'm lima, and had uncovered 35 bronze works, suspected to be forgeries. and that number was likely to rise. if those that are for those files, most of it on the image most is would show divides the labor of the seamless law. and i could be wrong. that could be more, but i suspect that there are $12.00, or 3 people who get together and say, what are we going to do next? the take these exceptional bronze portraits of a black african woman and our faults of the economy, then you have to come up with the idea 1st. then you have to make the most cost the

middle east and then begin ruining it. so making those damage marks and the degree to make it look ancient. and this of this, i'd so little of that requires a lot of skill should force, which is the sudden the tradition museums. and you know, means yet, museums are obviously never happy when someone calls important pieces from the major collections into question on those 2 devices. that usually also leads to interpersonal problems. and trust is in place and then come isaacson's guns and then can't be avoided of uh, i think it's harder. but i think the question of whether these uh, original ancient works. it's a full modem forgeries. this is serious enough, but you have to look pos, things like that, excuse me. and mix in most of the

as a professor at the university of honda, stephan lima was in a position to be able to freely designate expensive artworks as worthless facts. of course, the practice didn't make him many friends in the, our trade or at the museums that were affected. his book about the spanish masters forgeries was published in 2015 for the donald. how did you, ladies and gentlemen, the students welcome to these book launch at the martin luther university's archaeological museum was mostly on the page either to own this. i believe scholars must respond to these challenges quickly, clearly and effectively to law. only then can we defend the foundations of val discipline from these money grubbing attack multiple law office up to

the, to this day. it's still not clear who the spanish master is. the person or people behind the forgeries are likely still working in secret smuggling fix onto the international art market. stuff on lima has now retired. we caught up with him again in the city of cologne. he still spends time on the topic of forgeries ever since his book was published, fellow experts from all over the world have sent him images of suspicious bronzes. lehman says that the spanish master is slowly but surely distorting an image of antiquity of the alexander bust from the victim and museum in stand, which landed him in court and 2010 had remained missing until 20. 23 in the

mind. call me from richard, including the end of may i go to a newspaper clipping with a photo from a great call. a want to sleep through a whole. he right was content. it really be what is cooked in was uh, i looked at the picture and saw a box in that box was the alexander from stand up parked to pick the articles and the page was from the geneva uh, collection of the criminal uh dealer robin signs wellbeing times and he just couldn't. so i think that collection was discovered in 2006 office wrote on the other side the next time there was a legal dispute involving easily in greece. and then the antiquities were returned to italy and also to grace as lucy, dogs. it's all queens pizza, or even golden among the things returned was the alexander from stand?

um it is oh, it's now resurfaced. greece is culture ministry published the list of 351 antiquities restore to the country from the collection of robin symes. number 11 is the alexander bust. the court has now ruled that it was looted. art extend shouldn't have exhibited it without documentation about its origin, just as lima and said in 2000 lima and still believes the bronze is a forgery. he's pleased, it's turned up and hopes the material will be analyzed, does and books, and it's a great how can you live in bad? would it be? and if we'd found out they had had been mailed down, the whole thing is it's more, it's a naive american, multi billionaire. i had both. and even if that would have been a sensation coles to, to that we just had into that too. and script of but i haven't returned to a country that spectacular ongoing on the island. a dozen

a spectacle. yeah. first to see it in his inclusion at times that i didn't know if it was not. i wouldn't do anything to split pieces. so prestigious. it has such a smell on it that people will get in touch. cool. um that this the, the on the slow today it's unlikely the authorities in athens don't know that the alexander bronze from robin symes collection is suspected of being a fake. after all, greece is called your minister has a doctor it in archaeology herself. it's now up to greek authorities to make the next move and disclose to the world the providence, the alexander bronze, the,

the vehicle. i started to try to silver the key. there's a silver supporting the thomas thought i ordered for a $120000.00 rupees. he couldn't believe it's the silk bombing was the solution off to the collapse of cotton production which hit the village of re we hauled the way now self sufficient and not dependent on others for money. because india and 30 minutes on d w. the,

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