Five Roman works of art from the ancient city of Palmyra, a site destroyed during the ten-year conflict in Syria, were returned to Damascus today, Thursday, by a private Lebanese museum, where they have been on display since 2018.
The limestone statues and carved tombstones dating from the Roman second and third centuries AD. They were returned on the initiative of a private Lebanese collector, said the head of Syrian Antiquities, Mohamed Nazir Awad, at a handover ceremony organized by the National Museum of Lebanon in Beirut.
The collector, Jawad Andra, acquired the artwork from European auction houses before the start of the war in Syria in 2011, Awad said, describing his actions as a “generous initiative”.
“The artifacts, which were on display at the Nabu Museum in northern Lebanon, are returning to their homeland,” the Syrian official added.
During the Syrian conflict, the site of Palmyra, one of the most important cultural centers in the ancient world, fell into the hands of jihadists and came under the control of the Islamic State organization, which blew up some of its most important monuments, including Arc de Triomphe.
The Syrian ambassador to Lebanon, Ali Abdul Karim, said talks were under way to arrange for the return to Syria of other artifacts from the National Museum in Beirut.
Read all the news
Follow Skai.gr on Google News
and be the first to know all the news
.
