ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Hundreds of trafficked artifacts will be returned to Iraq from Lebanon, the Lebanese Ministry of Culture announced on Saturday, marking the latest in a series of recent efforts to return stolen artifacts to their ancestral homeland of Iraq.
"An agreement was reached between the Lebanese Nabu Museum, in which the artifacts are located, and the Iraqi government, which includes the delivery of these pieces to Iraq," Lebanese Minister of Culture Mohammed Murtada told Iraqi state media on Saturday.
Murtada also revealed that some of the antiquities being delivered were discovered to be of Iraqi origin by the Lebanese Directorate General of Antiquities as far back as 2018.
"The number of pieces that will be delivered to Iraq is 331 pieces with cuneiform, in addition to six other pieces that were among 32 disputed pieces," continued the minister.
The handover comes two weeks after Iraq received five ancient artifacts from the US, two of which are nearly 3,000 years old.
In December, the US returned a 3,500-year old clay tablet featuring a portion of the epic of Gilgamesh to Iraq. The tablet was stolen from an Iraqi museum and illegally trafficked to the US.
Around 17,000 antique artifacts have been returned to Iraq from the US since July, most of which date back to the Sumerian period around 4,000 years ago, one of the oldest civilizations in Mesopotamia.
Nevertheless, cultural property theft has surged during the COVID-19 pandemic as per an International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) survey, and issues remain in the quest to return historical Iraqi artifacts.
Comments
Rudaw moderates all comments submitted on our website. We welcome comments which are relevant to the article and encourage further discussion about the issues that matter to you. We also welcome constructive criticism about Rudaw.
To be approved for publication, however, your comments must meet our community guidelines.
We will not tolerate the following: profanity, threats, personal attacks, vulgarity, abuse (such as sexism, racism, homophobia or xenophobia), or commercial or personal promotion.
Comments that do not meet our guidelines will be rejected. Comments are not edited – they are either approved or rejected.
Post a comment