North-Press Agency
Rustom Abdo
There are many different museums all over the world, which contain among their treasures and walls various antiques and artifacts and archaeological pieces, which mimic the history and stories of the ancient peoples and civilizations, so that they have become cultural and tourist fronts for these countries and peoples over the time and a source of pride and glory for many of them.
Because they contain invaluable treasures, these museums were the focus of attention of thieves and dealers of antiques, especially in countries which witnessed conflicts and wars, and some of these museums were the victims of these wars and conflicts. This is what happened to the Munich Museum and other German museums during the Napoleonic era, also happened to dozens of Russian museums during the World War II, and also what happened to the Iraqi museums such as Baghdad Museum and Mosul Museum – the second most important museum in Iraq – during the Iraqi-U.S. war in 2003.
The events witnessed by the Middle East region with the beginning of the Arab Spring about ten years ago, have come with negative results on the cultural wealth in most of the Arab countries, as all museums inside the conflict areas have been exposed to either material damage such as vandalism as a result of the bombing between the conflicting sides, or to looting and theft by stalkers and thieves from these areas.
Since the beginning of the Arab crisis, the museums in most of the countries that witnessed disturbances were subjected to violations and transgressions one after the other. The Egyptian museum, which is considered one of the most famous museums in the world, was subjected to the theft of some pieces with the beginning of the uprising in the country. The treasures of some Libyan museums were stolen such as Sousa Museum and Benghazi Museum.
Likewise, more than 20 museums in Yemen were subjected to theft, looting and vandalism such as the National Museum in Sanaa, the National Museum in Ta'ez, Zamar Museum and the Military Museum in Sanaa. Also, Iraqi museums were subjected to attacks again, such as Mosul Museum which was subjected to theft and its sculptures and solids were smashed during its defeat by the Islamic State terrorist group (ISIS). Recently, the National Museum in Algeria was also subjected to burning and stealing of some of its archaeological pieces.
While no one disagree that the losses suffered by the Syrian museums and archaeological sites since the beginning of the crisis are the largest and the most violent in the Arab world if not at the world level.
In Syria, there are about 38 museums distributed among archaeological museums, museums of folk traditions and specialized museums . These museums contain hundreds of thousands of archaeological and heritage artifacts which date back to ancient civilizations during different periods and eras in the Syrian lands throughout its history.
Various scientific reports indicate that 12 Syrian museums have been subjected to different material damage, such as the museums of Aleppo, Idlib and Deir ez-Zor as a result of the bombardment, and the museums of Raqqa and Palmyra which were subjected to looting and theft one year after the beginning of the crisis, in addition to using some of the museums as military barracks and points by the conflicting military forces such as Deir ez-Zor and Maarat al-Numan museums.
The General Directorate of the Syrian Antiquities and Museums stated that since the beginning of the crisis, it had transformed more than 300,000 archaeological pieces from their museums into a safe place, including about 80,000 pieces from Damascus museum and 13,000 from Deir ez-Zor museum, as most of these pieces are the precious ones. At that time, the Directorate had also ordered its staff to close all the museums in Syria and moving the contents of the small museums into the central ones.
Until now, there are no accurate numbers nor statistics regarding the archaeological pieces which were stored in the archaeological museums in Syria until 2011. Also, as we enter the 9th year of the Syrian crisis, there is no clear number nor statistic regarding the number of the pieces which were stolen from the museums or those which were smashed inside, as it happened to Palmyra Museum and others.
All what happened and is happening to the Syrian museums of looting, theft and devastating, is an awful crime against the global humanitarian cultural heritage and it is a loss for all Syrians. Those museums were fundamentally found to store among their shelves and walls unique ruins and civilizations which have emerged and flourished on the lands of their countries for thousands of years, and to tell the stories and the history of the peoples and nations who lived on their vast geography.