Ancient gold ingots taken from Damascus National Museum
Thieves stole several ancient gold ingots from Syria's National Museum in Damascus overnight from Sunday to Monday, a security source and a person close to the museum's management told AFP.
The source close to management said that "six items were stolen from the so-called classical wing," one of the museum's most important sections, which houses objects from the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods. Those close to the museum described the missing objects as gold ingots but did not provide details on their age or precise provenance.
A separate security source corroborated the account. Syrian authorities had not issued an official confirmation of the theft at the time of reporting.
“The institution is closed for security reasons and will reopen next week,” a museum manager told AFP when asked to comment.
Another security source said several employees and guards were detained after the theft and underwent questioning before being released. An official from the department that oversees Syria's museums, speaking on condition of anonymity, said security forces had barred staff from entering the exhibition halls since the incident.
AFP reporters who visited the museum found it closed — a normal occurrence on Tuesdays — and observed no visible signs of forced entry or disturbance from the outside.
The National Museum in Damascus largely survived the country’s destructive civil war and reopened earlier this year after having been closed at times due to security concerns. Its collections include tens of thousands of items spanning Syria's long history, from prehistoric tools and Greco-Roman sculpture to Islamic art. During the conflict, many pieces stored elsewhere in the country were moved to the museum for safekeeping.
The war saw archaeological sites damaged, museums looted and many artefacts illicitly trafficked, creating a lucrative black market for stolen antiquities. Investigations into the latest theft are ongoing.
