Results for “looting”
The Egyptian Museum Looting, Cairo
During the 2011 revolution, intruders entered Cairo's Egyptian Museum, damaging and stealing artefacts — including objects associated with Tutankhamun. Some were later recovered.
The Gurlitt Hoard
A routine tax inquiry uncovered some 1,500 artworks hidden in a Munich apartment — many looted or sold under duress during the Nazi era. The discovery reignited the global reckoning over restitution.
The Euphronios Krater Returned to Italy
In 1972 the Metropolitan Museum of Art paid a record $1 million for a dazzling sixth-century BC Greek vase painted by Euphronios. Decades later it was proven to have been looted from an Etruscan tomb near Cerveteri — and in 2008 the Met returned it to Italy.
The National Museum of Iraq Looting
In the chaos following the 2003 invasion, the National Museum of Iraq was looted of thousands of objects spanning the dawn of civilisation. Recovery efforts continue two decades on.
The Mosul Museum Destruction
In 2015 ISIS filmed itself destroying Assyrian and Hatrene sculptures in the Mosul Museum, while smaller, portable antiquities were trafficked to fund the group. Much was lost forever.
France Returns Looted Syrian Antiquities
As Syria's civil war fuelled a flood of looted antiquities onto the market, France intercepted and returned a group of trafficked objects — part of a wider fight against the 'blood antiquities' financing conflict.