"Staff at the museum, the largest in Syria, became aware of the theft on Monday morning, November 10, when they saw that the door to the classical department had been broken, the Associated Press reported. Syrian authorities said an investigation is underway. The heist comes after cultural heritage looting surged after the escape of the country's former dictator, Bashar al-Assad, last December."
"The museum houses a collection of antiquities, including prehistoric, Byzantine, and Islamic art, spanning 11,000 years of Syrian history. Adnan Almohamad, an honorary research fellow at Birkbeck College, University of London, who studies archaeological heritage looting in Syria, speculated in an email to Hyperallergic that the theft could have been an inside job. "It appears that the operation was carried out by individuals with good knowledge of the Damascus Museum and the vulnerabilities that Syrian museums have faced for many years," Almohamad wrote."
Six Roman-era statues and unspecified gold ingots were stolen from the National Museum of Damascus after thieves broke into the classical department on the morning of November 10. Staff detected the theft when they found the department door broken and Syrian authorities opened an investigation. The heist occurred amid a surge in cultural heritage looting following the escape of Bashar al-Assad and the museum's recent reopening after six years of closure during the civil war. The museum holds antiquities spanning 11,000 years. An expert suggested the theft may have been an inside job and noted similarities to a 2010 Deir ez-Zor theft.
Read at Hyperallergic
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]