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Syria receives 36 antiquities worth more than $5 million from the US
Syria has recovered 36 antiquities worth more than $5 million from the United States, including a funerary relief removed from Palmyra and 14 mosaics stolen from a Roman villa. Syrian and American officials, along with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, cooperated in returning the artifacts handed over at a ceremony in New York.
Thirty-six looted antiquities worth more than $5 million were handed over to Syria following a ceremony in New York. The returned collection includes a large funerary relief removed from ancient Palmyra and 14 rare mosaics taken from a Roman villa in Syria.
The ceremony was held as part of efforts to combat the illicit trafficking of historical and cultural property. Participants included Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, US Special Representative for Syria and Iraq Tom Barrack, Syria’s chargé d’affaires in Washington Mohammad Nasser Qanatri, and Ambassador to the United Nations Ibrahim Olabi.
Palmyra funerary relief returned
The Palmyra funerary relief is among the returned objects and dates to the late second century CE. The limestone artifact, which weighs more than 454 kilograms, depicts a reclining man surrounded by a woman and three children.
The relief was located on the wall of a burial chamber in ancient Palmyra. It was carefully removed from the wall to prevent damage to the figures depicted on it.
Manhattan District Attorney Bragg said the relief was removed from its original location during the period when the terrorist organization ISIS was carrying out systematic looting at archaeological sites in Syria. Bragg also said his office had seized 31 antiquities from the Middle East and North Africa as part of its investigations.
Mosaics taken from a Roman villa
One of the objects in the collection is the “Telete and Eros” mosaic, which dates to the third century BCE. Made up of hundreds of small, colorful stone cubes, the work depicts the mythological wedding of Telete and Eros.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office seized the mosaic in July 2021 along with 22 mosaics stolen from Syria and Lebanon. The other returned objects include three female “Syrian-Hittite” figurines produced in northwestern Syria and dating to the second millennium BCE.
These figurines appeared on the art market in the possession of New York art dealer Edward Merrin in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The objects in Merrin’s possession were later sold to collector Michael Steinhardt, who was subsequently convicted in federal court of offenses linked to antiquities trafficking.
Bragg said the four objects sent to Syria were among 180 antiquities with a combined value of $70 million that his office seized from the Steinhardt collection as a result of a yearslong criminal investigation spanning several countries.
Syria’s cultural heritage looted during the war years
Syria’s chargé d’affaires in Washington, Qanatri, said that part of the country’s history had returned through Syrian-American cooperation. Qanatri said joint efforts to protect cultural heritage were helping build lasting ties between the two countries.
Archaeological sites in Syria faced looting, trafficking and destruction during the years of civil war. Palmyra, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage List, was also heavily damaged while under ISIS control in 2015.
The United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 2199 in 2015 to prevent the illicit trade in Syrian antiquities. In 2016, the United States also imposed emergency restrictions on the import of archaeological and ethnological material illegally removed from Syria on or after March 15, 2011.
The restrictions cover stone, metal, ceramic, glass, ivory, bone and textile objects, as well as paintings, mosaics and other Syrian cultural property. UNESCO later documented destruction at the Temples of Bel and Baalshamin, the Arch of Triumph, the city museum and parts of their collections in Palmyra.
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