Berlin museum displays smuggled ancient artworks from Türkiye

BERLIN, GERMANY- MAY 11: Pergamon museum in Berlin displays ancient artifacts from all over the world including those smuggled from Türkiye in the 19th century. Among those brought from Türkiye are the Pergamon Altar and The Old Fisherman’s Statue. The Pergamon Altar, produced by the Bergama Sculpture School in the 2nd century BC, represents the pinnacle of Hellenistic sculpture and resembles a grand temple with its impressive size and remarkable reliefs. The Old Fisherman's Statue, an ancient Greek sculpture made in Türkiye, depicts an elderly fisherman and provides insights into the daily life of people in ancient Pergamon. Antiquities smuggling was common in the final decades of the Ottoman Empire when it was rare to preserve the remains of ancient artifacts. In recent years, Türkiye requested the return of these two artifacts from Germany, but demands were denied by the German authorities. (Footage by Omer Sercan Karkus /Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)