The Administrative Control Authority announced Friday the recovery of an artifact from France, saying it dated back to the 4th century, and that it was stolen after the 2011 revolution.
The Head of the Authority, Abdullah Gaderbou, said that the piece returned from Paris via Mitiga Airport in Tripoli, and it was the piece number “413” recovered from the Louvre Museum, adding that the handing over ceremony took place at the airport between Gaderbou and the Head of the Antiquities Department, Ali Shalak.
He pointed out that the artifact dates back to the 4th century, and that the special envoy of the French President, Paul Soler, had a role in facilitating its arrival, after receiving the Libyan delegation at the Elysee Palace in Paris.
The Libyan embassy in Paris said that the artifact that was received from the French government belongs to “the torso of a marble funerary statue, dating from the Hellenistic (Ptolemaic) period, and its height is 56 cm.”
The piece has been illegally smuggled from Libya's Shahat city. It is a large funerary statue, and since 2016, it has been in the Louvre Museum.
The statue was secured during its transportation from Mitiga Airport to the Antiquities Department by the Tourism Police and Antiquities Security Apparatus, in cooperation with the General Administration of Security Operations and the Tripoli Security Directorate.
