The Riace Bronzes were discovered in 1972 off the coast of Calabria.
The two full-size Greek bronze warriors were found in the Ionian Sea near Riace Marina, in Calabria, southern Italy. They are usually dated to about 460–450 BC and are among the very few surviving original Greek bronzes of this scale, since many ancient bronze statues were later melted down.
The discovery is associated with the Roman chemist and amateur diver Stefano Mariottini, who reported seeing part of a statue beneath the seabed on 16 August 1972. The figures were recovered shortly afterward and underwent extensive conservation. They were publicly displayed after restoration in 1981.
The warriors, conventionally called Statue A and Statue B, originally carried weapons and probably stood as part of a larger group. They are now exhibited at the Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia in nearby Reggio Calabria. A persistent mix-up is to call them Sicilian simply because Sicily is close by; Riace and their museum home are in Calabria.