The Lydian Hoard: Met–Turkey Repatriation (1993)
In the 1960s, looters emptied tombs near Güre / Uşak (western Turkey). The Metropolitan Museum of Art acquired hundreds of Lydian precious-metal and wall-painting pieces (the so-called Karun / Lydian Hoard) through the New York market.
The named hooks that keep recurring are: Uşak / Güre tombs; Met acquisitions late 1960s–70s; Turkish lawsuit; Sept 1993 return agreement; later Uşak Museum theft/forgery scandal (2000s) as a separate documentary coda — do not conflate with the Met settlement itself.. Start with the institutional page at https://plone.unige.ch/art-adr/cases-affaires/lydian-hoard-2013-turkey-and-metropolitan-museum-of-art-1/ before secondary glosses.
Find and Pathway
In the 1960s, looters emptied tombs near Güre / Uşak (western Turkey). The Metropolitan Museum of Art acquired hundreds of Lydian precious-metal and wall-painting pieces (the so-called Karun / Lydian Hoard) through the New York market. Turkey sued; in September 1993 the Met agreed to return 363 objects, which went to Turkish museums (later centering on Uşak). Early U.S. museum–source-country settlement that predates the better-known Euphronios accord — perfect Pack 3 provenance neighbor to Pack 2’s Met–Italy file.
That sequence is the documentary cut. Dates, digs, museums, and courts outrank mood.
Institutional Ledger
Cross-check the same spine against https://www.ktb.gov.tr/TR-63145/12-abdden-iadesi-saglanan-lidya-hazinesi-eserleri-363-adet-1993.html and https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1993/09/23/met-returns-treasures-to-turkey/d37bdc6f-913f-4dea-a7f4-c3e4b2079575/. Those URLs are load-bearing for this page: acquisition pathways, excavation notes, restitution agreements, or epigraphic editions — not vibes.
People and places already named above are enough to keep the file searchable. Do not swap them for anonymous “experts” or “authorities.”
Where Claims Overreach
Looting pathway, Met acquisition, and 1993 return documented. Later local-museum theft stories are separate crimes, not proof the Met never returned the hoard.
Named digs, statutes, and museum PDFs remain the spine. Homeric or mystical overlays stay labeled as overlays.