In Pictures.. The Palmyra Funerary Treasure and the Tilet Mosaic Return to Syria

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American officials announced the return of 36 stolen artifacts worth over $5 million to the Syrian people, which were officially handed over to the chargé d'affaires at the Syrian embassy in Washington. The collection includes a massive stone sculpture that was illegally smuggled during the looting of the archaeological site of Palmyra by the terrorist organization "ISIS."

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg confirmed yesterday, Wednesday, that the ceremony for the return of the artifacts is a strong reminder that preserving cultural heritage transcends any borders or nationalities.

He also explained that the investigation was highly complex and multifaceted, and it would not have been possible without the close partnerships extended around the world, according to what was reported by AFP.

He also noted in a statement that the funerary stone sculpture was taken from the UNESCO World Heritage-listed site of Palmyra when ISIS organized and facilitated systematic looting of archaeological sites between 2015 and 2017.

The limestone sculpture, dated to the late second century AD, weighs over 450 kilograms and adorned the walls of a burial chamber in a Palmyrene tomb. The sculpture depicts a man in a reclining position surrounded by a woman and three children, carefully cut from the wall to avoid damaging the figures, and was smuggled to Dubai and then New York before the terrorist organization destroyed large parts of the city.

The returned pieces included the mosaic of "Tylith and Eros," which is a massive part of a mosaic floor dating back to the third century BC, depicting the legendary wedding of the god Tylith and Eros accompanied by Aphrodite and the three graces. The mosaic is part of 14 exceptional pieces that were looted from a Roman villa in Syria among 31 artifacts that George Lotfi, a Lebanese pharmacist turned antiquities smuggler who was issued a red notice by Interpol in 2023, allegedly smuggled to New York and were seized in a storage unit belonging to him in 2021.

The collection also included three female statues from Syria dating back to the second millennium BC, made in northwestern Syria. The statues appeared in the art market in the late 1980s in the possession of dealer Edward Merrin, who was later convicted of antiquities trafficking, before selling them to Steinheart, who received a photo of one of the statues broken and covered in dirt shortly after its looting, along with another artifact smuggled by Eugene Alexander, who was convicted by the office in July 2025.

The Antiquities Trafficking Unit of the Manhattan District Attorney's Office had seized the recovered pieces from several sources, including 13 artifacts confiscated from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, four pieces from American collector Michael Steinheart, in addition to pieces seized from international smuggling networks.

For his part, the Chargé d'Affaires at the Syrian Embassy in Washington, Mohammad Nasser Qanatri, confirmed that this step shows how mutual respect and a shared commitment to protecting cultural heritage can build lasting bridges between the two countries, noting that thanks to Syrian-American cooperation, part of Syria's history is finally returning home through the efforts of the Manhattan District Attorney's Office.

These seizures came as part of extensive investigations carried out by the Manhattan office, where the 13 pieces seized from the "Metropolitan" Museum are part of 402 artifacts valued at $98.7 million that the office has confiscated from the museum since 2017.

Additionally, 4 pieces from the Michael Steinhardt collection were returned as part of a lengthy criminal investigation that resulted in the seizure of 180 stolen pieces valued at $70 million in 2021, and a lifetime ban was imposed preventing him from acquiring artifacts.