Historic Artifacts Removed from the National Museum Located in Damascus

Valuable sculptures and other artefacts have been removed from Syria's National Museum in Damascus, officials say.

The theft was discovered on the start of the week, when museum workers allegedly found that a doorway had been damaged from the inside.

The six missing pieces were crafted from marble and traced back to the Roman era, one official stated to the Associated Press.

Cultural heritage officials said it had opened an investigation to identify the "events surrounding the disappearance of a collection of artifacts", and that measures had been enacted to strengthen safeguarding and observation methods.

The head of internal security in the capital area, General Osama Atkeh, was quoted by the state-run Sana news agency as saying that security forces were examining the robbery, which he said had targeted several "ancient sculptures and valuable objects".

He added that guards at the facility and other individuals were being interrogated.

The cultural institution, which was created in the early twentieth century, contains the significant historical artifacts in Syria.

It contains clay cuneiform tablets originating to the ancient era from Ugarit, where evidence of the earliest complete alphabet was found; Greco-Roman period Greco-Roman sculptures from Palmyra, among the foremost ancient sites of the classical era; and a 3rd Century AD Jewish temple that was built at Dura Europos.

The facility was forced to close in 2012, a year after the start of the devastating civil war. Most of the collection was evacuated and stored at secure places to ensure their safety.

It partially resumed in 2018 and completely reopened in January 2025, four weeks after insurgents overthrew Syria's former leader.

Each of the six of the country's cultural landmarks were damaged or partly ruined during the civil war.

The Islamic State group destroyed several religious structures and additional edifices at the ancient city, asserting that they were idolatrous. Unesco censured the destruction as a war crime.

Numerous cultural items were also damaged or stolen from dig sites and cultural institutions.