{"id":166192,"date":"2026-07-25T23:40:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T23:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/166192\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T23:40:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T23:40:09","slug":"france-returns-23-artifacts-to-syria-during-macrons-visit-with-ahmed-al-sharaa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/166192\/","title":{"rendered":"France returns 23 artifacts to Syria during Macron\u2019s visit with Ahmed al-Sharaa"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Arab World Institute (IMA) in Paris returned 23 artifacts to Syria earlier this month, during French President Emmanuel Macron\u2019s visit<\/a> to strengthen ties between the two countries.<\/p>\n

Originally loaned in 2010 and 2011 to IMA from museums in Damascus, Aleppo, Latakia, and Palmyra, all 23 artifacts were transported back to Syria aboard the French presidential plane alongside Macron.<\/p>\n

The artifacts include Roman bronzes, Byzantine<\/a> and Islamic coins, funerary reliefs from the ancient city of Palmyra from the second and third centuries, a mosaic fragment from the Umayyad Mosque, reported the French magazine BeauxArts earlier in July.<\/p>\n

Also returned as part of the collection was the statue of Ishqi-Mari, an ivory statuette discovered in a Temple of Ishtar in the ancient city of Mari by a French archaeological team in 1934.<\/p>\n

Syria\u2019s Foreign Ministry, in a July 7 statement, noted France as the first country to cooperate with Syria in its campaign to recover antiquities held worldwide since the Assad regime was overthrown.<\/p>\n

\"StatueStatue of Ishqi-Mari from behind, returned to Syria by France, July 7, 2026. (credit: SCREENSHOT\/X\/@SyPresidency)Return of artifacts delayed by Assad’s regime<\/p>\n

Returning the artifacts comes as part of Syria\u2019s \u201cnational and diplomatic efforts\u201d to recover its cultural heritage, Syria\u2019s Foreign Ministry explained.<\/p>\n

Syria\u2019s state media SANA, citing Syria\u2019s Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums (DGAM), added that the artifacts had originally been slated to return in 2014, but delayed due to the deterioration of Syria and France\u2019s<\/a> relations under Assad.<\/p>\n

Further, SANA reported that French authorities at the time had also refused to return the artifacts due to the nature of the security situation in Syria and concern for the artifacts\u2019 preservation.<\/p>\n

Macron and Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa presided over the official handover ceremony of the artifacts on July 7, which took place at the People’s Palace in Damascus.<\/p>\n

‘Great pride’ in returning artifacts to Syria<\/p>\n

In its statement, the Syrian Foreign Ministry expressed its thanks and appreciation to French authorities for their cooperation in returning the artifacts.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrance has safeguarded Syrian archaeological treasures for years of war, to protect them from destruction and trafficking,\u201d Macron shared in a post to X\/Twitter, alongside a video of the ceremony. \u201cThey are back. Very proud to bring them back to Damascus.\u201d<\/p>\n

IMA President Anne-Claire Legendre echoed Macron\u2019s sentiment in her own social media post, sharing the institute\u2019s \u201cgreat pride\u201d in finally returning the artifacts to Syria.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is very moving to return these works to the Syrians and to see them return to the Damascus<\/a> museum,\u201d IMA said in its own X post, marking the occasion. \u201cIt is giving back to the Syrians elements of their history that have been threatened all these years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter more than fifteen years of conservation at the Arab World Institute (IMA), these works, entrusted by the Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums of Syria (DGAM), are returning today to their country of origin. Presented as part of the permanent tour of the IMA museum, they have helped to reveal to a public from all over the world the richness of Syrian heritage.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis trip also marks the opening of a new chapter in cooperation between the Institut du monde arabe and Syria, with the preparation of a major exhibition dedicated to Syria in 2028 and the strengthening of partnerships between Syrian cultural institutions and the IMA,\u201d IMA concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Arab World Institute (IMA) in Paris returned 23 artifacts to Syria earlier this month, during French President…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166193,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[125],"tags":[241,69896,52090,2901,242,245,238,71555],"class_list":["post-166192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-emmanuel-macron","tag-ahmed-al-sharaa","tag-antiquities","tag-archaeology","tag-bashar-assad","tag-emmanuel-macron","tag-france","tag-syria","tag-syria-assad"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/116983262294641739","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166192\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}