Geneva-Sana
The Geneva Tribune newspaper published a lengthy article entitled “Switzerland returns three looted artifacts to Syria” by Pascal Zimmermann, a specialist in antiquities and history, in which she stressed the importance of cooperation in retrieving archaeological treasures looted during the crisis in Syria and the need to combat illegal trafficking and international cooperation to restore them.
In her article, the writer Zimmermann sheds light on the efforts made by Switzerland since discovering the existence of smuggled artifacts from Syria, Libya and Yemen that were illegally entered into Swiss territory, and on cooperation with Syria, leading to the delivery of stolen artifacts from the city of Palmyra to Ambassador Husam El-Din Ala, the permanent representative of Syria. At the United Nations office and international organizations in Geneva on the eighteenth of this month.
In the article, Zimmermann reviewed the artistic and historical importance of the aforementioned pieces and the nature of the damage they sustained when they were uprooted from its archaeological site in Palmyra. She said: “The three pieces are two stone funerary sculptures representing a man and a woman and a priest’s statue of great historical and artistic value that were looted from their original location.” .
Zimmermann quoted the curator of the Museum of Art and History in Geneva, Beatrice Blandin, confirming that there had been looting and piracy, saying: “The priest’s head was removed by a quarry, and the vandalism that took place in the neck and back of the priest’s head indicates this. From a funeral plaque called The Banquet.
Zimmermann pointed out that these pieces date back to the second and third centuries AD and were handed over by the curator of the Museum of Art and History in Geneva, Beatrice Blandan, to the Syrian ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, which means that she will return to her country and her original land.
Zimmermann explained that in November 2016, the Swiss authorities confiscated nine looted artifacts, three of which belong to Syria, five to Yemen and one to Libya, and that these pieces remained with the Swiss public prosecutor until they were handed over to the Museum of Art and History.
Zimmerman pointed out that the Geneva Public Prosecution Office launched a criminal investigation, according to which the artifacts were placed under judicial custody, as all factors during the investigation led to the fact that these artifacts were looted and as a result were confiscated at the end of November 2016.
Zimmermann, an archaeologist, concluded by saying: Switzerland's cooperation with Syria in retrieving looted artifacts is a model for other countries to follow and encourages them to follow the Swiss step in terms of raising awareness of this problem and cooperating to return them to their countries of origin.
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