Stolen 2,300-year-old Lebanese artefact found in New York

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Culture Ministry has been notified by the office of the New York District Attorney (DA) that it has seized a 2,300-year-old marble sculpture of a bull’s head.

It was discovered in Sidon’s Temple of Eshmun during excavations by Lebanon’s Directorate General of Antiquities, and was stolen from its storerooms in Byblos during the civil war.

Culture Minister Ghattas Khoury told Arab News that his ministry takes action against all instances of antiquities-smuggling.

The ministry said it was informed in January by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York about the sculpture, which had been on loan to the museum from a private collector.

Subsequently, the ministry notified the US Embassy in Beirut in order to start the process of returning the piece to Lebanon.

The DA’s office informed the ministry about the confiscation of another artifact from the same art collection. The ministry believes it also came from the Temple of Eshmun.

The ministry said it will cooperate with the office to prove that the item was stolen from Lebanon, and will start the process of having it returned.

The temple is an ancient place of worship dedicated to Eshmun, the Phoenician deity. It is located near the Awali River, 2 km northeast of Sidon in southwestern Lebanon.