The National Museum of Damascus closed temporarily this week following the audacious theft of several artifacts from its classical department, Syrian cultural authorities confirmed on Tuesday. Established in 1919, the museum houses thousands of antiquities spanning from prehistory through the Roman and Byzantine eras, reflecting Syria’s deep cultural heritage. Security at the museum was reinforced at the onset of Syria’s 14-year civil war and the subsequent fall of the 54-year Assad regime last December. The building closed for six years during the Syrian Civil War, and again on December 7, 2024, a day before anti-Assad forces reached Damascus, amid fears of looting. The museum reopened this January with its collection intact—only to close briefly this week following the heist.The theft reportedly took place on Sunday night and was discovered Monday morning when a door was found broken. An anonymous source close to museum management told AFP that six items were stolen, describing them as gold ingots but declining to confirm their age or provenance. A security source told the news outlet that “several employees and guards at the museum were detained” following the theft, and were “subjected to interrogation before being released.”According to an official from Syria’s Directorate-General for Antiquities and Museums, who spoke anonymously to the Associated Press, six Hellenistic marble statues had also been taken from the classical department. (The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity due to government regulations prohibiting public statement.)ARTnews has contacted Syria’s Directorate General for Antiquities and Museums for comment. The police chief in Damascus, Brig. Gen. Osama Atkeh, confirmed to state news agency SANA that several statues and prized collectibles were taken from the museum. An investigation is underway, Atkeh said.Syria’s arts and culture sector, damaged and looted during two decades of conflict, has begun to rebuild. The ancient city of Palmyra was targeted in 2014 by the terrorist group ISIS, which waged a campaign of destruction against heritage sites across Syria, Iraq, and Libya. At least 41 major cultural heritage sites and monuments in Syria were damaged by 2015, including the Temple of Bel, the Temple of Baalshamin, the Lion of Al-lāt statue, the Tower of Elahbel, and Arch of Triumph. Earlier this month, UNESCO and the Aliph Foundation organized the first international conference since the fall of Assad dedicated to restoring Syria’s heritage sites.The heist at the National Museum is the latest in a string of burglaries targeting cultural institutions worldwide. In October, a Chinese woman was arrested and charged with stealing $1 million worth of gold from the Natural History Museum in Paris, in a break-in that occured just weeks before the historic burglary of jewels from the Louvre.