An archive of historic papers discovered in a Long Island basement in New York strengthens the historical record surrounding the discovery of the Venus de Milo in Greece. In 2023, New York psychology teacher Susan Vera uncovered the documents while reviewing long-stored family belongings that had been passed down through several generations.
Her ancestors originally owned the materials and kept them safely stored in a chest for decades. Only after careful inspection did their historical value become clear. After experts evaluated the archives, the full collection was donated to the Gennadius Library in Athens for preservation and scholarly use.
The archive includes approximately 550 documents dating from the late 1700s through the early 1900s. Together, they document diplomatic, commercial, and social activity across the Aegean during a period of major political transformation.
Venus de Milo archive donated to Greece
Louis Brest stands at the center of the collection. He served on the island of Milos at the time workers unearthed the Venus de Milo in 1820. Historical records show that Brest played a role in the sequence of actions that helped move the sculpture to France, where it later entered the Louvre Museum in Paris.
Historian Mark Mazower helped coordinate the donation and reviewed the papers. He says the material matters because it places the statue’s discovery within a broader local and geopolitical framework connected to the Greek War of Independence. Rather than presenting the Venus de Milo as an isolated art event, the documents link it to daily administration, regional tensions, and power relations on Milos at the time.
The papers also map trade routes, diplomatic contacts, and social networks across islands and mainland ports. Family members, mainly women, preserved the documents across generations and safeguarded them through multiple relocations before the archive finally reached Greece.
Enduring importance
The Venus de Milo, also known as the Aphrodite of Milos, ranks among the most famous sculptures from Ancient Greece and remains one of the most recognizable artworks worldwide. The statue stands out for its missing arms—a defining feature that continues to inspire scholarly debate.
Artists carved the figure from two blocks of white marble and gave it a height of six feet, eight inches, making it larger than life. Most scholars identify the sculpture as Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty, known as Venus in Roman tradition. On April 8, 1820, local farmer Yorgos Kendrotas found the statue fragments on the Aegean island of Milos. The pieces lay half buried and separated. Because he could not move one section, he left it in place.
French naval officer Oliver Voutier later joined the excavation and quickly recognized the artistic significance of the find. French authorities then opened negotiations with Ottoman officials, who controlled Milos at the time and secured the sculpture.
How the Venus de Milo archive drives new research in Greece
The fate of the Venus de Milo’s missing arms remains one of art history’s enduring mysteries. No verified explanation has ever been established. One long-standing theory suggests that the damage occurred during a violent struggle in 1820, when French and Turkish sailors reportedly fought over possession and the sculpture was struck against rocks during its removal. Most modern scholars, however, reject this account and argue that the arms were already missing when excavators first uncovered the statue.
In 1965, jurist Ahmed Rechim put forward a separate claim while seeking to bolster a Turkish ownership argument. He maintained that the arms had been deliberately buried and that three Turkish families knew their location through a closely guarded, inherited secret. Researchers have never verified this assertion.
Scholars expect the newly donated archive in Greece to facilitate deeper research into Milos’ local history and the broader political and cultural context surrounding the discovery. The correspondence and administrative papers provide historians with new primary sources, enabling a more grounded reassessment of one of the nineteenth century’s most celebrated archaeological finds.
Related: Why Was the Venus de Milo Statue Discovered With No Arms?