In a show of international collaboration to protect cultural heritage, Italy has returned 56 cultural relics to China after they were illegally transported to Europe and later confiscated.
Nineteen of these artifacts were repatriated to China in late October, with the remainder set to follow soon, according to China’s National Cultural Heritage Administration.
The return of these relics is a key moment during Italian President Sergio Mattarella’s six-day state visit to China, which began on Thursday.
On Friday, President Xi Jinping and his wife, Peng Liyuan, viewed some of the artifacts displayed at a welcoming banquet held in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People for Mattarella and his daughter, Laura.
This repatriation marks another success in China-Italy cooperation under their bilateral agreement to prevent the illegal trade in cultural artifacts.
It follows a previous repatriation of 796 Chinese cultural items from Italy in March 2019. The two nations established an intergovernmental agreement in 2006 to combat cultural artifact smuggling.
From 2021 to this year, Italy’s Carabinieri military police informed China of the seizure of 59 suspected Chinese relics. China’s National Cultural Heritage Administration then provided Italian authorities with detailed identifications and legal assessments.
Most of these artifacts were identified as originating in Gansu, Qinghai, and Shaanxi provinces, with significant historical, artistic, and scientific value.
Among the relics identified were pottery figurines from the Western Han (206 BC-AD 24) and Tang (618-907) dynasties, as well as animal-shaped ceramics from the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), each a vivid testament to the prosperous, open societies of their time.
Notably, the collection also included painted pottery from the Majiayao culture, an ancient Chinese culture over 5,000 years old, offering valuable insights into the origins and early development of Chinese civilization.
Three remaining relics are still under investigation.
China formally requested the return of the cultural relics through diplomatic channels, leading Italy to agree to repatriate the 56 identified items.
Amid China’s strengthened efforts to reclaim cultural artifacts lost overseas, over 2,113 artifacts or artifact collections have been successfully repatriated in the past 12 years, according to the National Cultural Heritage Administration.
The administration highlighted that China’s cooperation with Italy on cultural heritage protection has yielded significant results.
This year, marking the 700th anniversary of the death of Italian explorer Marco Polo, who visited China in the 13th century and facilitated cultural exchanges between China and the West, several exhibitions on his historic journeys have been held or are planned in both countries.
China and Italy have also collaborated on nine cultural heritage projects, including interpreting the historical value of the Maritime Silk Road and preserving waterlogged wooden artifacts.
