(15 Jul 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Pompeii, Italy – 15 July 2025
1. Various of Pompeii Archaeological Park employees putting mosaic on display
2. Wide of tourists photographing mosaic
3. Close of mosaic
4. Wide of presser and Gabriel Zuchtriegel, Director of Pompeii Archaeological Park
5. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Gabriel Zuchtriegel, Director of Pompeii Archaeological Park:
“We don’t know the exact place of origin. We know these kind of ’emblema’ (icons) often decorated the central part of the ‘cubicola’, the sleeping rooms that also served as living rooms, or were used for reading, for meetings, meetings with friends also, not only romantic encounters such as the one we see here (in this mosaic), but we know sometimes business meetings also happened in the ‘cubicola.’
6. Various of mosaic
7. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Gabriel Zuchtriegel, Director of Pompeii Archaeological Park:
“The important thing is above all the gesture (of returning it). The importance of this lies in the decision taken by the inheritors of a German citizen, who had originally received it as a gift from a captain of the Wehrmacht (German army) who was here in Italy and in Campania (during the Second World War), and that they didn’t want to keep it anymore in their home, but wanted to return it to Italy, and so then the Ministry of Culture assigned it to the Pompeii (Archaeological) Park.”
8. Various close of mosaic
9. Various of Pompeii
STORYLINE:
A mosaic panel on travertine slabs, depicting an erotic theme from the Roman era, was returned to the archaeological park of Pompeii on Tuesday, after being stolen by a Nazi German captain during World War II.
The artwork was repatriated from Germany through diplomatic channels, arranged by the Italian Consulate in Stuttgart, Germany, after having been returned from the heirs of the last owner, a deceased German citizen.
The owner had received the mosaic as a gift from a Wehrmacht captain, assigned to the military supply chain in Italy during the war.
The mosaic — dating between mid- to last century B.C. and the first century — is considered a work of “extraordinary cultural interest,” experts said.
Gabriel Zuchtriegel, Director of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, described the decision to return the mosaic as "important".
Zuchtriegel added that the exact origin of the mosaic was unknown, but that this style of panel typically decorated Roman cubicola – rooms used for sleeping, meetings, business and love affairs.
The panel was put on display Tuesday at the archaeological park where it will be protected and available for educational and research purposes.
AP video by Andrea Rosa
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