Decades after a Nazi captain stole an erotic Roman mosaic, it returns to Pompeii

A mosaic returned to the Archaeological Park of Pompeii after being looted in World War II. Photo / Archaeological Park of Pompeii

An intricate mosaic panel looted from Italy during World War II has been repatriated to Pompeii after some 80 years, Italian authorities and archaeologists at the site said this week.

The ancient panel - which depicts a scene of two lovers - was apparently taken by a Nazi captain during the war and donated to another person in Germany as a gift, Italian authorities said yesterday.

According to the statement, which did not identify any of the people by name, Italian police were contacted by the heir of the person who had received the mosaic as a gift, leading to its repatriation through diplomatic channels.

The vibrantly coloured travertine panel depicts a pair of half-clothed lovers, with a woman standing beside a man reclining.

The mosaic forms part of a rich ancient tradition of erotic artwork, examples of which archaeologists say have been discovered across virtually every space in Pompeii from private homes to bathhouses.

A preliminary analysis of the panel by archaeologists suggests it may have originally adorned the floor of a bedroom in a villa, although its exact provenance is not known. The analysis dated the mosaic to the Vesuvian era, which takes its name from the period around 79 AD, when an eruption of Mount Vesuvius buried Pompeii with volcanic materials.

The mosaic was delivered to Pompeii under the supervision of the Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, a specialist Italian police unit founded in 1969 to combat illicit trafficking of the cultural artifacts and known colloquially as the Carabinieri Art Squad.

At a news conference, the squad’s Major General Francesco Gargaro said the mosaic was seized by an unidentified Wehrmacht captain, referring to Germany’s wartime fighting forces, although the exact chain of events surrounding its theft may never be known.

According to Gargaro, the looter was tasked with administering logistical supplies in wartime Italy and gave the piece to another person in Germany.

For decades, its existence remained unknown to Italian authorities - until they received a call from the heir to the person who received the mosaic.

“I must emphasise the enormous sensitivity of this gentleman,” said Gargaro, who described how the unidentified man realised the panel’s historic significance when he inherited it from his father.

The mosaic was then delivered to the Italian consulate in the German city of Stuttgart, he said, which organised its repatriation.

Gabriel Zuchtriegel, the director of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, said the repatriation of the artifact “heals a wound”.

He said that where the mosaic originally came from may never be known, but that his team will conduct scientific analysis on the artifact to date it as precisely as possible.

According to art historians, German Nazis and Italian fascists alike were fascinated by Ancient Rome - believing their modern empires to be its symbolic heirs.

Researchers have chronicled examples of Nazi officials requesting gifts of Roman antiquities from Benito Mussolini’s regime.

Other ancient artifacts were stolen or illegally exported throughout the wartime period by a network of art dealers, troops and civilians - much of which was undocumented and untraceable.

The exact route by which this mosaic made it to Germany remains unclear.

The mosaic will be temporarily displayed in Pompeii’s Antiquarium Museum, which displays artifacts from the site, as it undergoes further study and analysis.