🔗 Share this article

Ancient artifacts and cultural objects have been stolen from the National Museum of Syria in Damascus, officials say.

The burglary was found on Monday, when staff apparently found that one of the museum's doors had been damaged from the interior.

The half-dozen missing sculptures were made of marble and originated to the Roman period, an authority informed the news agency.

The nation's antiquities authority said it had launched a probe to establish the "details surrounding the theft of a group of exhibits", and that actions had been taken to improve safeguarding and monitoring systems.

The director of domestic security in the capital area, Security Chief Atkeh, was cited by the official media as saying that law enforcement were investigating the robbery, which he said had affected several "historical artifacts and valuable objects".

He continued that guards at the museum and other individuals were being interrogated.

The cultural institution, which was founded in the early twentieth century, holds the significant archaeological collection in the country.

It features ancient inscribed tablets originating to the Bronze Age from an ancient city, where proof of the earliest writing system was discovered; Greco-Roman period ancient art from Palmyra, one of the most important cultural centres of the classical era; and a third century synagogue that was built at another archaeological site.

The museum was compelled to shut in 2012, twelve months after the beginning of the devastating civil war. The majority of the collection was evacuated and stored at undisclosed sites to safeguard them.

It began limited operations in recent years and returned to normal in early this year, a month after opposition groups overthrew Syria's former leader.

Every one of Syria's Unesco World Heritage sites were damaged or partially destroyed during the internal struggle.

The IS organization blew up multiple ancient buildings and historical sites at Palmyra, claiming that they were against their beliefs. Unesco denounced the damage as a war crime.

Numerous historical objects were also lost or taken from dig sites and cultural institutions.