ATHENS: Armed robbers on Friday seized dozens of items on display at the antiquities museum in Ancient Olympia , the birthplace of the ancient Olympics in southern Greece , after tying up an employee.Greece's culture minister Pavlos Geroulanos submitted his resignation after the robbery, state television reported.Police and museum authorities did not have an immediate account of the items taken from smashed display cases, but local authorities and police said about 60 artifacts are estimated to have snatched.Sporting authorities are to hold a ceremony at the museum on May 10 to light the Olympic flame for the London Games.Today's robbery is the second major museum theft in the past two months in Greece. In January, thieves made off with art works by 20th century masters Pablo Picasso and Piet Mondrian from the country's National Gallery in central Athens.In that pre-dawn heist, the burglars also took a pen and ink drawing of a religious scene by Italian 16th century painter Guglielmo Caccia. A fourth work by Mondrian also was removed from the National Art Gallery in one of the best-guarded areas of central Athens , but the thieves abandoned it as they fled. No arrests have been made.
Culture minister Pavlos Geroulanos, pictured from file, has resigned over the robbery
Armed robbers stole around 60 valuable statuettes from a museum in , Greece this morning. A state television channel reported that the Greek culture minister  tendered his resignation upon hearing of the robbery.

"We must wait and see what the local archaeology supervisor will say, but the items were of incalculable value," local mayor Thymios Kotzias said. The value of the articles hasn't been calculated yet.

The masked robbers initially demanded a female employee to hand over the articles. When she refused, they tied her up and snatched the articles through the glass planes themselves.

This is the second major robbery in the country recently. Paintings by ,  and others were stolen from   in January. Olympia is the place where the first Olympic Games were held.