Museum workers of Russia and Germany will deal in the missing artifacts from Palmyra – Interfax

Moscow. 4 Dec. INTERFAX.RU – the Russian and the German Museum agreed to explore their own art markets to deal with “black archeologists” and the sale of art from Syrian Palmyra, said the Director of the State Hermitage Mikhail Piotrovsky.

While at the V St. Petersburg international cultural forum, Piotrovsky on Sunday in interview to TV channel “Russia 24″ (VGTRK) has commented on the news that December 2 the Swiss Prosecutor’s office confiscated nine ancient artifacts of the I – III centuries of our era, abducted and illegally removed from Palmyra and several other countries. Monuments was discovered in the customs-free zone of Geneva.

“We see on the aerial photography that dig, but almost nothing to see on the market. (. . .) It is clear that no one, no serious collectors of anything from the Middle East don’t buy now, you can’t. Where does it end, what are the moves – not very clear. We talked with our colleagues from Interpol and the UN, and agreed with the German colleagues that we will explore together the Russian and German markets, not in the police and the Museum to understand what are the channels, where does, where it goes,” he said.

According to Piotrowski, the stolen artifacts can cross not only in Europe.

“the World is big. In Europe, few (found artifacts – if), where do they go next? This is an interesting mystery that Museum professionals can work together with the police, everyone at your function to make the sale of these unique things has become unprofitable. Then they can no longer plunder or destroy what they have, here too things are not so simple”, – concluded the Director of the Hermitage.

Palmyra was captured by terrorists ISIS (banned in Russia – if) in may 2015. They blew up the ancient temple of Bel, the temple of Baal-Shamina II century ad, destroyed the famous ancient statue of the lion of al-Lat, Dating back to I century BC, has also been undermined by two ancient Muslim tombs, three ancient columns and other historical and architectural monuments.

In March 2016 the ancient Syrian city was completely liberated from the insurgents by the Syrian army, backed by Russian and Syrian military aircraft.

Palmyra, located in an oasis of the Syrian desert, were one of the wealthiest cities of late antiquity. Currently, the site of Palmyra was a village and the ruins of majestic buildings that belong among the best examples of Roman architecture and recognized UNESCO world heritage monument.