Antigüedades robadas devueltas a Irak
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IRAQ: Recovering a ransacked heritage
For a few precious hours, Iraq’s shuttered National Museum threw open its doors to journalists this week to celebrate the return of more than 700 looted antiquities, seized over the years by Syrian customs officials.
Clay cones inscribed with cuneiform script, one of the earliest forms of writing, ancient statues, golden necklaces and daggers were on display for the cameras. Museum officials showed off the serial numbers identifying items as part of their collection.
For now, the museum remains closed to the public. Once the journalists had gone Sunday, museum staff began boxing up the items, which will be kept under lock and key until security improves in Baghdad.
The museum, custodian of a priceless collection dating back to the dawn of civilization, lost some 15,000 pieces in the looting that accompanied the arrival of U.S. troops in Baghdad five years ago. Initial reports that 170,000 artifacts had been stolen proved to be exaggerated.
Nearly a third of the missing items have been returned, many by Iraqis taking advantage of the museum’s policy of accepting returns with no questions asked. They include prized possessions such as a 5,000-year-old limestone vase from the Sumerian city of Warka, which three men produced from the trunk of a car in 2003.
Others were seized by authorities in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Italy, the United States and beyond and remain abroad.
Mohammed Abbas Oreibi, Iraq’s acting minister of state for tourism and archaeology, said Syria was the first country to return such a large treasure trove. He hopes others will follow suit.
Iraqi officials say U.S. authorities are supporting their efforts to retrieve looted artifacts, but they do not hide their bitterness that more was not done to secure them in the first place.
The Times has reported how a tragedy on an even greater scale continues to unfold at about 12,000 poorly guarded archeological sites, where illegal diggers are chipping away at Iraq’s heritage. To read more, click here.
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http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/04/29/museum_0164_2.jpg
—Saad Khalaf and Alexandra Zavis in Baghdad
Photos: Some of the more than 700 recovered antiquities on display at the Iraqi National Museum on April 27, 2008. Credit: Saad Khalaf / Los Angeles Times
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Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Photographs of Iraqi antiquities seized in Lebanon October 2008
Her response to me included a set of photographs of some of the objects confiscated from the smugglers. Those photographs are published here with her kind permission.
Click on each photograph for a bigger version.
Comments are welcome here or on the IraqCrisis list. New subscribers are welcome at IraqCrisis.
[update, 30th October, 2008] Joanne Farchakh Bajjaly has generously provided us with a second set of photographs of objects seized by authorities from smugglers in Lebanon this month.
-Objetos robados en Iraq : oi.uchicago.edu/OI/IRAQ/dbfiles/objects/2194.htm
Iraq Museum Database Homepage, -Lost Treasures Homepage-, -Site Photos-
Tags: antigüedades robadas devueltas a Iraq, objetos robados en iraq
25 de Agosto de 2009 at 11:08
Que devuelvan todo lo que han robado (ya que no se les puede devolver a la vida a las victimas inocentes de esa guerra).
25 de Agosto de 2009 at 19:33
Eso es lo que se debería hacer.Pero….¡ A ver quien es el guapo que encuentra a los ladrones¡