National Museum of Damascus closed after Roman statues stolen in new museum theft
The National Museum of Damascus in Syria has been forced to close after ancient Roman statues were stolen from its displays.
Thieves managed to carry out the heist in the classical department of the city’s largest museum despite increased security measures, including metal gates and surveillance cameras, having been installed since the start of the civil war in Syria which began 15 years ago.
The museum has temporarily closed as of November 11th, after the robbery was seemingly carried out during the night of November 9th and discovered early the next morning.
Two unnamed officials from Syria’s Directorate General for Antiquities and Museums confirmed the incident to journalists (per The Independent), noting that they could not disclose their identities due to rules prohibiting them from speaking publicly.
The exact number of statues which have been stolen is not clear, with one official specifying six, while the other simply stated that it was “several”. An investigation is underway after a broken door was reportedly found early on November 10th within the classical department, hence leading to the revelation of the missing statues.
It comes merely weeks after a huge-scale heist was successfully carried out at The Louvre in Paris, where criminals managed to steal approximately £77.5 million from the collection of France’s crown jewels.
The robbery, which contained jewels worn by monarchs including Napoleon III, was carried out in the space of eight minutes during the museum’s opening hours, leading to multiple arrests after a number of major and serious breaches were found within the institution’s security measures.
No officials from the National Museum of Damascus have yet released any official details of the heist of the Roman statues, including exactly how many artefacts were stolen.
