A soon-to-be-lost antiquity is rapidly becoming a Manhattan tourist attraction. The reason for its sudden popularity is simple. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has agreed to return the stunning Euphronios krater it bought for a record $1 million in 1972 in response to the Italian government's claim it had been illegally removed from a tomb north of Rome.

Now that it's a short-timer, even New Yorkers are stopping to take a closer look.

"I haven't seen it for such a long time I had to ask a guy to point me in the right direction," said Lisa Kiernan, there with her son Sam, a freshman at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

"I asked a friend who works at the museum what I should bring him to see when he was home on vacation, and she said, 'Just take him to see the Greek vase, because it won't be here forever.' "

It's easy to understand how a visitor might overlook this rare terra-cotta vase from the 6th century B.C. Dubbed the Euphronios krater after the name of the painter, it's surrounded by other Greek vases done in the red-figure process whereby a black glaze was painted around forms and figures that were left the natural color of the clay.

This type of wide-mouthed, broad-bodied vessel with handles was used to mix wine with water, but the intricate storytelling quality and superb artistry of this one sets it apart.

The 18-inch-tall object is actually the product of two artists, a potter named Euxitheos and Euphronios, the painter.

"Rather than thinking of it as a utilitarian object, I'd like you to see it as a great drawing, albeit in the round," Metropolitan Museum director Philippe de Montebello says, referring to the fact that the story evolves as visitors move around the vessel.

The dramatic scene on the front is an episode from the Trojan War.

Blood gushes from the slain body of Sarpedon, son of the supreme deity in Greek mythology, while the messenger god Hermes raises his hand as a signal for two winged figures to carry the victim to his homeland for burial.

Intrigue and danger are enacted on an elegantly proportioned, harmoniously shaped vessel, with the muscular bodies and motion rendered in convincing fashion – sufficiently gory to satisfy fans of The Sopranos, but timeless.

In exchange for the Met's return of the Euphronios krater and several other objects, the Italian Cultural Ministry recently agreed to let the museum keep it on view until January 2008, about nine months after the opening of the new galleries for Etruscan, Hellenic and Roman art in April of next year.