🔗 Share this article Valuable Statues Stolen from Syria's National Museum in Damascus The Damascus Museum reopened fully in the first month of this year, four weeks after the overthrow of the Assad government. Valuable sculptures and additional items have been taken from Syria's National Museum in the capital, officials say. The robbery was discovered on Monday, when staff reportedly found that an entrance had been damaged from the interior. The half-dozen missing sculptures were crafted from marble and traced back to the Roman era, one official stated to the media outlet. Cultural heritage officials said it had initiated an inquiry to establish the "details surrounding the disappearance of a number of exhibits", and that steps had been enacted to improve protection and monitoring systems. The chief of national security in the capital area, Security Chief Atkeh, was referenced by the state-run Sana news agency as stating that security forces were probing the robbery, which he said had targeted several "ancient sculptures and valuable objects". He added that security personnel at the museum and additional people were being questioned. The National Museum, which was created in the early twentieth century, holds the most important historical artifacts in Syria. It includes historical records originating to the 14th Century BC from an ancient city, where evidence of the oldest known complete alphabet was found; early centuries CE Greco-Roman sculptures from Palmyra, among the foremost ancient sites of the ancient world; and a 3rd Century AD Jewish temple that was built at Dura Europos. The institution was forced to close in the early 2010s, one year after the outbreak of the devastating civil war. The majority of the artifacts was transferred and stored at secret locations to protect them. It reopened partially in 2018 and returned to normal in early this year, a month after rebel forces overthrew the Assad regime. Each of the six of the country's cultural landmarks were harmed or significantly impacted during the conflict. The militant faction demolished numerous ancient buildings and additional edifices at the archaeological site, stating that they were idolatrous. The cultural organization denounced the demolition as a war crime. Many cultural items were also damaged or looted from historical locations and museums.