🔗 Share this article Historic Artifacts Stolen from Syria's National Museum Located in Damascus The Damascus Museum reopened fully in January of 2025, four weeks after the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad. Historic statues and additional items have been removed from Syria's National Museum in Damascus, authorities report. The robbery was found on the start of the week, when museum workers apparently found that an entrance had been broken from the inside. The multiple missing statues were marble creations and traced back to the ancient Roman times, an authority informed the news agency. The nation's antiquities authority said it had opened an investigation to establish the "circumstances surrounding the disappearance of a number of exhibits", and that actions had been enacted to enhance safeguarding and observation methods. The director of domestic security in the capital area, General Osama Atkeh, was cited by the state-run Sana news agency as saying that law enforcement were examining the theft, which he said had focused on several "archaeological statues and rare collectibles". He added that museum protectors at the museum and other persons were being questioned. The cultural institution, which was founded in 1919, contains the most important archaeological collection in Syria. It features ancient inscribed tablets dating back to the Bronze Age from an ancient city, where proof of the earliest complete alphabet was uncovered; Greco-Roman period ancient art from the ancient city, among the foremost historical locations of the classical era; and a ancient religious building that was constructed at another archaeological site. The institution was forced to close in the early 2010s, twelve months after the beginning of the internal strife. The majority of the holdings was removed and preserved at secure places to safeguard them. It began limited operations in recent years and completely reopened in January 2025, a month after opposition groups overthrew the Assad regime. All six of the country's cultural landmarks were damaged or partly ruined during the civil war. The IS organization blew up several religious structures and other structures at Palmyra, claiming that they were idolatrous. Unesco condemned the damage as a atrocity. Many cultural items were also damaged or stolen from historical locations and museums.