ATHENS, Greece -- Two paintings by Pablo Picasso and Piet Mondrian that were stolen from the National Gallery in Athens in 2012 have been recovered by Greek police, officials announced here Tuesday.

Picasso's "Head of a Woman" and Mondrian's "Stammer Windmill" were stolen on Jan. 9, 2012 along with an early 17th century sketch attributed to Guglielmo Caccia, the Greek national news agency AMNA reported.

The two paintings were found hidden carefully packaged in a gorge on the outskirts of the town of Keratea in Greece's eastern Attica region, near Athens, police officers told a press conference.

A 49-year-old Greek builder, who was arrested as a suspect and confessed to the crime, said that he was an "art lover" and he had carried out the theft on his own, without accomplices.

The third work of art was destroyed during the theft, he claimed, according to an e-mailed press release issued jointly by the Citizen Protection Ministry and the Culture and Sports Ministry.

"We had great success with the recovery of the paintings of Picasso and Mondrian. They will now find their rightful place in our new Gallery," Citizen Protection Minister Michalis Chrisochoidis told journalists.

The National Gallery was closed for renovation in 2012, shortly after the theft, and it reopened this spring.

The "Head of a Woman" was painted by Picasso in 1939 and in 1949 he offered the painting to the Greek people for their resistance during World War Two, according to the press release.

Mondrian's work dated from 1905. It was purchased by a Greek collector and was eventually donated to the National Gallery.

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Greek police recover Picasso, Mondrian paintings stolen in 2012

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