Tag Archives: Artifacts

Islamic State destroys famous monument in Syria’s Palmyra: antiquities chief

file photo of Roman theatre destroyed by Islamic State

By Kinda Makieh and Tom Perry

DAMASCUS/BEIRUT (Reuters) – Islamic State militants have destroyed one of the most famous monuments in the ancient city of Palmyra, the Tetrapylon, and the facade of its Roman Theatre, Syrian antiquities chief Maamoun Abdulkarim told Reuters on Friday.

The Syrian government lost control of Palmyra to Islamic State in December, the second time the jihadist group had overrun the UNESCO world heritage site in the six-year-long Syrian conflict.

UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova said in a statement that the destruction constituted “a new war crime and an immense loss for the Syrian people and for humanity”.

The Tetrapylon, marking a slight bend along Palmyra’s grand colonnade, comprises a square stone platform with matching structures of four columns positioned at each of its corners.

Satellite imagery sent by Abdulkarim to Reuters showed it largely destroyed, with only four of 16 columns still standing and the stone platform apparently covered in rubble.

The imagery also showed extensive damage at the Roman Theatre, with several towering stone structures destroyed on the stage. Just last May, a famous Russian orchestra performed at the theater after Palmyra was first won back from Islamic State.

Abdulkarim said if Islamic State remained in control of Palmyra “it means more destruction”. He said the destruction took place sometime between Dec. 26 and Jan. 10, according to the satellite imagery of the site.

Islamic State had previously captured Palmyra in 2015. It held the city for 10 months until Syrian government forces backed by allied militia and Russian air power managed to drive them out last March.

During its previous spell in control of Palmyra, Islamic State destroyed other monuments there, including its 1,800-year-old monumental arch. Palmyra, known in Arabic as Tadmur, stood at the crossroads of the ancient world.

Islamic State put 12 people to death in Palmyra earlier this week, some of them execution-style in the Roman Theatre.

Russia marked the capture of Palmyra from Islamic State by sending the Mariinsky Theatre to perform a surprise concert, highlighting the Kremlin’s role in winning back the city.

The concert, held just over a month after Russian air strikes helped push Islamic State militants out of Palmyra, saw Valery Gergiev, a close associate of President Vladimir Putin, conduct the Mariinsky orchestra.

Islamic State swept into Palmyra again in December when the Syrian army and its allies were focused on dealing a final blow to rebels in the city of Aleppo. Eastern Aleppo fell to the government later that month.

(Reporting by Kinda Makieh in Damascus and Tom Perry in Beirut; Additional reporting by John Irish in Paris; Editing by Larry King)

ISIS Destroys Syrian Artifacts

ISIS terrorists smashed cultural artifacts from the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra according to a statement from the terrorists and from Syrian state media outlets.

Terrorists caught a man smuggling six ancient statues through Aleppo province and then destroyed the statues after he was taken to an “Islamic court” in Manbij.

“An IS checkpoint in Wilyat arrested a person transporting several statues from Palmyra,” the group said in an online statement. “The guilty party was taken to an Islamic court in the town of Minbej, where it was decided that the trafficker would be punished and the statues destroyed.”

The statues “appear to be eight statues stolen from the tombs in Palmyra. The destruction is worse than the theft because they cannot be recovered,” Maamoun Abdelkarim, Syria’s Antiquities Director, told the London Guardian.

Also reported destroyed was a 2,000 year old statue of a lion that was outside the museum in Palmyra discovered during a 1977 archaeological mission.

“IS members on Saturday destroyed the Lion of al-Lat, which is a unique piece that is three metres [10ft] tall and weighs 15 tonnes,” Abdelkarim told AFP. “It’s the most serious crime they have committed against Palmyra’s heritage.”

Abdelkarim said the items destroyed by the terrorists were “priceless.”

ISIS Selling Church Artifacts On Black Market

A British publication has conducted an undercover investigation that shows terrorist group ISIS is selling artifacts from Christian churches on the black market as a way to fund their actions.

Oliver Moody of The Times published an article showing ISIS taking antiquities worth millions of dollars and selling them to western buyers.

“Willy Bruggeman, a former deputy director of Europol who is now president of the Belgian federal police council, said that some of the artefacts had almost certainly been sold illegally to buyers in the UK, although none had yet been traced to Britain,” Moody wrote.

“Iraqi Intelligence Service confirmed earlier this year that ISIS was able to collect 23 million pounds from the sale of artifacts from the Syrian city of Nabaq, which is full with Christian Collectibles.”

In addition to selling the artifacts, the group has been using a bulldozer to destroy Christian churches so they can sell the gypsum inside the walls.

The United Nations has stated in multiple hearings that the cultural heritage of Iraq is in danger from the terrorist group.