Ancient statues stolen from Syria’s National Museum

Ancient statues and other artefacts have been stolen from Syria’s National Museum in Damascus, officials say.

The theft was discovered on Monday, when staff reportedly found that one of the museum’s doors had been broken from the inside.

The six missing statues were made of marble and dated back to the Roman era, one official told the Associated Press.

Syria’s Directorate-General for Antiquities and Museums said it had opened an investigation to determine the “circumstances surrounding the loss of a number of exhibits”, and that measures had been taken to strengthen protection and monitoring systems.

The head of internal security in Damascus province, Brig-Gen Osama Atkeh, was cited by the state-run Sana news agency as saying that security forces were investigating the theft, which he said had targeted several “archaeological statues and rare collectibles”.

He added that guards at the museum and other individuals were being questioned.

The National Museum, which was established in 1919, houses the most important archaeological collection in Syria.

It includes clay cuneiform tablets dating back to the 14th Century BC from Ugarit, where evidence of the oldest known complete alphabet was discovered; 1st and 2nd Century AD Greco-Roman sculptures from Palmyra, one of the most important cultural centres of the ancient world; and a 3rd Century AD synagogue that was built at Dura Europos.

The museum was forced to close in 2012, one year after the start of the devastating civil war. Most of the collection was evacuated and kept at secret locations to protect them.

It reopened partially in 2018 and resumed full operations in January 2025, a month after rebel forces overthrew President Bashar al-Assad.

All six of Syria’s Unesco World Heritages sites were damaged or partially destroyed during the civil war.

The Islamic State group blew up several temples and other structures at Palmyra, claiming that they were idolatrous. Unesco condemned the destruction as a war crime.

Many artefacts were also destroyed or looted from archaeological sites and museums.