The starting-point for this booklet was provided by the exhibition on the illicit trafficking in antiquities organized in April 2012 by the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki (AMTh) and the Directorate for the Documentation and Protection of Cultural Goods (Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Tourism) in collaboration with the 16th Ephorate of Antiquities (Thessaloniki), the 17th Ephorate of Antiquities (Edessa), the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities, and the Excavations of Vergina by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
Warm thanks are due to all the exhibition’s contributors, firstly to all the collaborating services of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Aristote University of Thessaloniki and secondly, to all Archeological Museum of Thessaloniki personnel. All those involved collaborated very willingly and worked with zeal and enthusiasm to achieve the exhibition’s objective, viz. to provide as much information as possible to as many members of the public as possible concerning the inevitably criminal results of illicit trafficking in antiquities.
The goal of this volume is to sensitize citizens and visitors to Greece concerning the scourge of antiquities smuggling, and to make common cause with all those who believe in the values of Greek culture, whose achievements formed the foundations on which all of modern-day Western culture is based.
