🔗 Share this article

Valuable artifacts and additional items have been stolen from the National Museum of Syria in the capital, officials say.

The robbery was found on Monday, when employees allegedly found that one of the museum's doors had been forced from the interior.

The six taken pieces were made of marble and traced back to the Roman era, an authority informed the news agency.

Cultural heritage officials said it had opened an investigation to determine the "events surrounding the disappearance of a collection of items", and that measures had been implemented to enhance security and surveillance.

The chief of domestic security in Damascus province, Brig-Gen Osama Atkeh, was referenced by the state-run Sana news agency as declaring that law enforcement were probing the robbery, which he said had affected several "historical artifacts and valuable objects".

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

The National Museum, which was founded in the early twentieth century, contains the primary archaeological collection in the country.

It contains ancient inscribed tablets dating back to the ancient era from an ancient city, where evidence of the oldest known writing system was found; early centuries CE ancient art from the ancient city, among the foremost ancient sites of the historical period; and a 3rd Century AD religious building that was built at Dura Europos.

The museum was compelled to shut in 2012, twelve months after the beginning of the destructive conflict. A large portion of the artifacts was evacuated and stored at undisclosed sites to protect them.

It began limited operations in 2018 and resumed full operations in January 2025, four weeks after opposition groups deposed Syria's former leader.

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

The militant faction demolished several temples and other structures at the ancient city, claiming that they were against their beliefs. The cultural organization censured the demolition as a atrocity.

Countless artefacts were also destroyed or looted from dig sites and cultural institutions.