Culture and Sports: Greece returns historical artefacts to Albania
13/02/2008
Greece returned two stolen statutes to an Albanian museum in Butrint. Also in cultural news this week: a Cypriot athlete breaks high-jump record and the 2008 Sarajevska Zima Festival opened in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
 Greek Culture Minister Michalis Liapis (left) and his Albanian counterpart, Ylli Pango, look at the two ancient marble sculptures during a ceremony of the artefacts' return to Albania on February 7th in Athens. [Getty Images] |
At a ceremony on Thursday (February 7th), Greece's Culture Ministry returned two antique statues to Albania that were stolen from the Butrint Museum in 1991. Butrint is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The event was attended by Albanian Culture Minister Ylli Pango and his Greek counterpart, Michalis Liapis, who said the return of the cultural relics was part of Greece's effort to repatriate all artefacts that have been illegally brought to the country.
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Cypriot World Championship bronze medalist Kyriacos Ioannou set Cyprus' new high-jump record -- 2m 32cm -- in an international competition in Novi Sad, Serbia, on Saturday (February 9th). Ioannou also held the previous record of 2m 30cm.
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The "Dimensional Arts" exhibition of Albanian painter Ibrahim Kodra's work opened on Friday (February 7th) in the National Gallery of Arts in Tirana. The exhibition was organised to mark the second anniversary of Kodra's death.
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Croatian football federation president Vlatko Markovic announced on Monday (February 11th) that the coach of the country's national football team, Slaven Bilic, will remain at the team's helm after the European championship in Austria and Switzerland.
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The legendary Bulgarian gymnast Stoyan Delchev was accepted into the Hall of Fame of world sports gymnastics in Oklahoma on Saturday (February 9th). Delchev became the 64th member of the world gymnastics elite to be inducted, and Bulgaria became the 19th country to be represented in the Hall of Fame.
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Artists, dancers and musicians from 52 countries will participate in the 2008 Sarajevska Zima Festival that opened on Friday (February 8th) in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This year's motto, "Barricades without Borders -- '68 a New (Brave) World", pays homage to 1968, when students around the world raised their voices and said "no" to war, nationalism and divisions.
(Various sources – 06/02/08-13/02/08)
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