Luigi Palma di Cesnola

Luigi Palma di Cesnola was an Italian-born soldier, diplomat and collector. After serving in the Union army in the American Civil War, he became American consul in Cyprus, where from 1865 to 1876 he dug at many ancient sites and assembled a huge collection of Cypriot antiquities, including the so-called Curium treasure, whose findspots have long been doubted. The Metropolitan Museum of Art bought the collection, and he became its first director in 1879.