Temple of Demeter

The growing fascination for classical antiquities fuelled the illicit trafficking of historical relics, which were sold to private collectors or even to the king on payment of a reward. When a plundered statue of Proserpine was recovered in 1869, the then secretary general of the Ministry for Education, Pasquale Villari, urged the Girgenti Prefect to apply the decree that called for the seizure of goods that had not been reported and had been removed from the site illegally. As we read in the words of the secretary, the implementation of this law was essential to fight the ignorance of those who believed these objects to be “res nullius” [Complesso archivistico: Prefettura di Agrigento, Intendenza e atti della Prefettura di Girgenti 1827-1887 b.485 14-4], or not subject to ownership of any kind.
Another item that was removed from the Temple of Proserpine and Ceres, known known as the Temple of Demetra was a headless statue of Proserpine that was found by a team of Calabrian labourers while working on the land of a Cavaliere Giambertoni. The workers found the statue in a tomb, laid out like a burial, inlaid with gold and silver, and they shipped it to Nicastro, in Calabria.