🔗 Share this article Valuable Statues Taken from the National Museum in Damascus The National Museum reopened fully in the first month of 2025, a month after the overthrow of the Assad government. Ancient statues and cultural objects have been stolen from the National Museum of Syria in the capital, sources confirm. The burglary was discovered on Monday, when museum workers apparently found that a doorway had been damaged from the interior. The six taken statues were made of marble and traced back to the Roman era, a source informed the Associated Press. The nation's antiquities authority said it had initiated an inquiry to identify the "circumstances surrounding the theft of a group of exhibits", and that actions had been taken to strengthen protection and surveillance. The head of internal security in the Damascus region, Security Chief Atkeh, was cited by the official media as saying that security forces were probing the incident, which he said had focused on several "historical artifacts and valuable objects". He noted that security personnel at the museum and other persons were being interrogated. The cultural institution, which was created in 1919, holds the primary archaeological collection in Syria. It features clay cuneiform tablets dating back to the 14th Century BC from an ancient city, where evidence of the most ancient complete alphabet was discovered; 1st and 2nd Century AD Greco-Roman sculptures from Palmyra, a significant historical locations of the historical period; and a ancient religious building that was constructed at an ancient location. The institution was compelled to shut in the early 2010s, one year after the outbreak of the devastating civil war. Most of the artifacts was removed and preserved at secret locations to safeguard them. It partially resumed in 2018 and completely reopened in January 2025, four weeks after opposition groups deposed Syria's former leader. Every one of Syria's Unesco World Heritage sites were affected or significantly impacted during the civil war. The Islamic State group blew up multiple ancient buildings and other structures at the ancient city, claiming that they were against their beliefs. Unesco condemned the damage as a war crime. Many cultural items were also lost or looted from dig sites and museums.