March 19, 2024

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US sends back to Libya 2,400-year-old smuggled statues on display at New York Museum |  The world

US sends back to Libya 2,400-year-old smuggled statues on display at New York Museum | The world

Returned to the United States Libya The 2,400-year-old abduction statues have been on display at the New York Museum for decades, the African embassy said on Thursday.

Sculptures and other artifacts dating to the 4th century BC and coming to the Metropolitan Museum in 1998 in the ancient city of Siren – on the Mediterranean coast.

The goods were smuggled, and a real legal battle was needed for the Libyan authorities to win the right to return the treasures home.

Artifacts from the ancient city of Siren in Libya – Photo: AP Photo / Youssef Murad

One of the statues is known as the “headdress of a woman’s veil”, a work of the Hellenistic era that was previously in the hands of a private collector of other illegal artifacts.

Officials celebrated the arrival of the artifacts Libya Who organized a reception for the pieces in Tripoli, the capital of the country.

In a statement, the Libyan government thanked the United States – especially the New York Attorney’s Office – for helping to return the pieces.

Artifacts from the ancient city of Siren in Libya – Photo: AP Photo / Youssef Murad

“Although they entered the United States illegally, legal efforts were able to repatriate them,” the US embassy said. Libya In a statement.

Some of them are on display in museums across the country, but many of their archeological sites have been looted for decades.