Homecoming : Cycladic treasures on their return journey (English/Greek)

A concise study in which Fappas I. D. traces the trajectory of a select group of Early Cycladic artifacts as they return to their homeland through a formal concordat among Greek cultural authorities and international institutions. The volume situates the 3rd millennium BCE artifacts within their original aesthetic and cultural milieu, while also mapping the modern channels of custody, exchange, and repatriation that frame their revised provenance. Through a bilingual presentation—Greek and English—the author juxtaposes scholarly discourse with the logistical and diplomatic gestures that accompany repatriation, underscoring the ethical dimensions of cultural stewardship. The narrative foregrounds the Leonard Stern collection as a catalyst for the “return home” motif, translating scholarly curiosity into a tangible act of restitution. While detailing the 15 inaugural items, the text also demonstrates how connoisseurship, preservation concerns, and museum governance intersect in the recontextualization of these objects. The analytical thread attends to materiality and context, probing how display settings, curation practices, and public access recalibrate the artifacts’ meanings. In sum, the book presents repatriation as both a legal-political achievement and a cultural act that reasserts national patrimony while inviting ongoing critical engagement with the history of collection.^*