TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — The United States returned a cache of ancient artifacts smuggled into Libya Thursday as the oil-rich Mediterranean country struggles to regain its heritage amid years of war and unrest.
The repatriated items come with two sculptures dating back to the fourth century BC. C. de the ancient city of Cyrene.
One of them, nicknamed “A Woman’s Veiled Head,” was in the past in the hands of a personal collector of other illegal artifacts, according to a statement from the U. S. Embassy. The other, also a Hellenic bust, had been in New York’s Metropolitan Museum since 1998, according to The Array. Both were on display through Lithroughan antiquities officials at a rite of reception in the country’s capital, Tripoli.
Libya’s antiquities government thanked U. S. officials and law enforcement for the returned pieces and said they hoped for long-term cooperation. The embassy credited the paintings from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and Homeland Security Investigators for recovering the artifacts.
“Although those antiquities were brought illegally to the United States through traffickers, legal efforts have succeeded in returning them to their home country,” the embassy said.
Libya has many ancient Greek and Roman structures, as well as a multitude of ancient artifacts in its main museum in the capital Tripoli and other museums in the country, its archaeological sites have been looted for decades.
Lithrougha has been ravaged by chaos since a NATO-subsidized uprising toppled and killed dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The country was then divided for years between rival administrations in the east and west, each subsidized through a series of militias and foreign governments.
Large-scale fighting stopped last year, but Libyans have yet to unite under single political leadership, despite tireless un efforts.
The Greeks founded the colony of Cyrene, near the elegant city of Shahat, in the fourth century BC. The United Nations added Cyrene to UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites in 1982 and it has been classified as a threatened position due to oblivion and looting since 2016.
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