Elche

Elche (ancient Ilici) is a city in Alicante, Spain, whose predecessor settlement at L'Alcudia was founded by Greek Ionian colonists from Helike around 600 BC. The site is famous for the Lady of Elche, a 4th-century BC limestone bust discovered in 1897, measuring 56 cm high and weighing 65 kg. Chemical analysis confirmed the sculpture served as a funerary urn, with phosphorus and calcium from human remains found in its rear cavity. Sold to the Louvre in 1897, it was returned to Spain in 1941 and now resides in Madrid's National Archaeological Museum as a masterpiece of Iberian art.