Antiquities, recovered by security authorities and Interpol, exhibited at the National Museum

On Jan 24, 2023

During the past years, the General Directorate of Antiquities and Museums displayed collections of antiquities that have been confiscated and recovered in cooperation with the security authorities and the international Interpol. However, discovering the recovered antiquities usually goes through stages that begin with differentiating between the fake pieces from the real ones, and accordingly, scientific studies are conducted to find out the original location of the antiquity before it is smuggled and transferred.

“A sculpture may be found somewhere, but it was looted from another site thousands of kilometers away,” says Laila al-Sammak, curator of the Museum of Ancient Syrian Antiquities. Then, cleaning takes place in the laboratories with careful and specialized technical and artistic research that includes a comparison of the antiquity with what it is similar to in order to know its origin, history and value.

The third batch of the confiscated antiquities was exhibited at the National Museum in Damascus under the title “Exhibition of Recovered Archaeological Treasures”. Specific models were displayed covering the period of the ancient East dating back to the first millennium BC, as qell as the classical and Islamic eras. The exhibits included, as al-Sammak explains, a basalt monument from the Aramaic era, and a group of cylindrical seals that were acquired by the wealthy in the third millennium BC, in addition to statues of priestesses, the preliminary study of which showed similarities to other pieces discovered at the site of Tell al-Hariri, the “Kingdom of Mari” in the second millennium BC, as well as

Phoenician silver and bronze coins.

Regarding the collection of recovered antiquities that belong to the classical times, al-Sammak added: “We displayed glass vials that were used to store medicines, medical drugs, and expensive liquid materials.” Among the artifacts were also glass ornaments, pottery vessels, Roman bronze lamps, and a bronze coffin pendant with the head of Athena inscribed on it. While the exhibits of the Islamic era included ceramic utensils and lamps in the form of birds of beautiful blue porcelain, along with a folder and pottery and ceramic pipes, and the most important thing were the Fatimid gold coins, whose importance stems from their historical period which the museum does not have many of its antiquities.

In addition to the above, a funerary bed that was intended to be smuggled out of Syria, and a collection of Palmyra sculptures, restored within the project of training on the preservation and restoration using Palmyra sculptures, were also recovered.

Al-Sammak indicates that the third batch of the recovered antiquities brought to the minds the martyrs of the General Directorate of Antiquities and Museums, including the guards at the archaeological sites who were martyred in defense of the artifacts, in addition to the engineers, experts, employees and restorers who were all united to protect the Syrian heritage.

It is noteworthy that the National Museum received more than 35,000 confiscated and recovered artifacts. The exhibition titled: “Recovered Archaeological Treasures 3” can be visited daily from nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, except for Fridays.

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