Stolen ancient artefacts to be returned to Iraq displayed in Rome

The objects were on show at the Iraqi embassy in the Italian capital

Terracotta cones with royal inscriptions commemorating the construction of temple buildings by King Gudea of Lagash at the Iraqi embassy in Rome. AP

Stolen ancient artefacts that are due to be returned to Iraq were displayed at a ceremony in Rome on Wednesday.

Saywan Sabir Mustafa Barzani, Iraq’s ambassador to Italy, viewed the objects at the Iraqi embassy event, which was attended by the head of Italian Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Property, Michele Minetti, and an Italian police representative.

They include vases, fragments of pottery, metal objects and terracotta cones with royal inscriptions commemorating the construction of temple buildings by King Gudea of Lagash (2,200 BC-2,150 BC) and date back to the civilisation of Mesopotamia.

Saywan Sabir Mustafa Barzani, Iraq’s ambassador to Italy, left, checks some artefacts during a ceremony at the Iraqi embassy in Rome. AP

At the ceremony, Mr Barzani expressed his thanks and gratitude to the Italian Antiquities and Heritage Protection Unit for its efforts in returning the artefacts to the embassy.

He also touched on the strong co-operation between Iraq and Italy, especially in the field of heritage and antiquities protection.

The ambassador said Italian authorities were informed that the five pieces had been offered for sale and he praised the embassy's work on following up on the issue.

He said the embassy had received archaeological pieces on five previous occasions, the last of which was in July 2024.

Stolen Mesopotamian relics, including vases and terracotta cones, were displayed in Rome before their return to Iraq. AP

Iraqi authorities have been working to retrieve thousands of archaeological relics looted decades ago from the country that many historians regard as the cradle of civilisation. Recent efforts to track them down have been increasingly successful.

Many artefacts, including ancient stone tablets, were smuggled out of the country in the chaos following the US-led invasion in 2003, when most archaeological sites were left unguarded.

Other smuggling operations date back to the 1990s, when Iraq suffered extreme poverty due to punishing international sanctions, leading to a crime wave that extended to smuggling valuable items of heritage.

Mr Barzani, the Iraqi ambassador, has acknowledged Italy’s role in safeguarding and returning items of cultural heritage to Iraq. AP

In 2018, US arts and crafts chain store Hobby Lobby was fined $3 million after US investigators found some of more than 3,000 clay tablets and seals that had been smuggled out of Iraq had been bought by the shop's managers.

Since then, thousands more items from around the world have been recovered. In 2021, Iraqi and US authorities secured the return of 17,000 ancient objects, including the so-called Gilgamesh Dream Tablet, to Iraq. The 3,600-year-old object contains a section of the ancient Akkadian poem, the Epic of Gilgamesh.

In 2015 the US returned more than 60 Iraqi objects after they were illegally smuggled into the country. They were returned following five separate investigations led by authorities.