Good News: Getty Museum Finally Decides to Return Stolen Bible Manuscript

The J. Paul Getty Museum said on April 7th that it is planning to return a priceless 12th-century New Testament manuscript to the Holy Monastery of Dionysiou in Greece, from which it disappeared over 50 years ago. Museum  officials stated that although the Byzantine New Testament was acquired as part of a larger, well-documented collection, recently uncovered records from 1960 indicate it was removed from the monastery illegally.

     "Over the past six weeks, the Getty Museum has cooperated with the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports to understand the recent history of this manuscript and to resolve the matter of its rightful ownership in a timely fashion," Timothy Potts, director of the J. Paul Getty Museum, said in a statement.

Following the announcement, news reports claimed that the New Testament is going to remain at the Getty Center until June 22nd, as part of an exhibition called Heaven and Earth: Byzantine Illumination at the Cultural Crossroads, and then it will immediately make its way to Greece, along with numerous other objects on loan for the show.

      "We applaud the Getty for their responsiveness to this matter," Greek Minister of Culture Panos Panagiotopoulos said in a statement upon hearing the news. "Their decision to return this precious Byzantine manuscript honours the spirit of our 2011 Framework for Cultural Cooperation."

Panagiotopoulos also noted that this manuscript was copied in 1133 by the scribe Theoktistos and is considered to be a masterpiece of Middle Byzantine art.