The Culture Ministry of Lebanon has handed over 337 ancient artefacts to Iraq that had been on display in a private Lebanese museum for years.
As per the reports from the National News Agency (NNA), Iraq has received 337 ancient artefacts from Lebanon that had been on display in a private Lebanese museum for years.
During a ceremony at the National Museum of Beirut on Sunday, Culture Minister Mohammad Mortada returned the items to the Iraqi Ambassador to Lebanon, Haider Shyaa Al-Barrak, as stated by NNA. The artefacts were located at the Nabu Museum, a private institution in Lebanon’s Byblos region.
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“We are celebrating the handing over of 337 artefacts from various eras of Mesopotamian civilizations,” Al-Barrak said at the ceremony.
Many antiquities were smuggled abroad during the country’s decades of war
During the country’s decades of war, many antiquities were smuggled abroad, according to the Xinhua news agency.
Some of these antiquities have also recently returned home.
The 3,500-year-old Gilgamesh Dream Tablet was handed over to the Iraqi embassy by US authorities in September 2021. It was also made available for viewing.
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On Saturday, Lebanon’s Minister of Culture, Mohammed Murtada, told the Iraqi News Agency that the majority of the items were clay cuneiform tablets.
The Nabu Museum in northern Lebanon provoked controversy shortly after it opened in 2018, amid suspicions that some of the items in its collection were illegally taken from Iraq and Syria.
Experts from Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon determined that the pieces originated in Iraq and Syria and were smuggled out during the conflict.
The museum is named after the patron god of writing and wisdom in ancient Mesopotamia, which primarily encompasses modern-day Iraq and some neighbouring areas.
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