The J. Paul Getty Museum said on April 7 it will return a 12th-century New Testament manuscript to the Holy Monastery of Dionysiou in Greece, from which it disappeared over 50 years ago. Getty officials said that although the Byzantine New Testament was acquired as part of a larger, well-documented collection, recently uncovered records from 1960 indicate it was removed from the monastery illegally.

"Over the past six weeks, the Getty Museum has cooperated with the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports to understand the recent history of this manuscript and to resolve the matter of its rightful ownership in a timely fashion," Timothy Potts, director of the J. Paul Getty Museum, said in a statement. The New Testament will remain at the Getty Center until June 22, as part of an exhibition called Heaven and Earth: Byzantine Illumination at the Cultural Crossroads before returning to Greece, along with numerous other objects on loan for the show.

"We applaud the Getty for their responsiveness to this matter," Greek Minister of Culture Panos Panagiotopoulos said in a statement. "Their decision to return this precious Byzantine manuscript honours the spirit of our 2011 Framework for Cultural Cooperation." Panagiotopoulos said the manuscript was copied in 1133 by the scribe Theoktistos and is considered a masterpiece of Middle Byzantine art.

See also Greek News Agenda: Getty Museum Returns Antiquities to Greece & Culture Ministry Signs Memorandum with Getty Museum