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Looted Gilgamesh Dream Tablet to be formally handed back to Iraq
Also: UNESCO hails return of looted ancient Gilgamesh tablet to Iraq (UN News)
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Source: The Guardian
Gilgamesh Dream Tablet to be formally handed back to Iraq
The 3,600-year-old tablet that shows parts of a Sumerian poem will be returned by the US to the country it was taken from in 1991
Alison Flood
Tue 21 Sep 2021 11.57 BST
A 3,600-year-old tablet showing part of the Epic of Gilgamesh will be formally handed back to Iraq by the US on Thursday.
The tablet, known as the Gilgamesh Dream Tablet, shows parts of a Sumerian poem from the Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the world’s oldest known religious texts. It is believed to have been looted from a museum in Iraq in 1991, and “fraudulently” entered the US in 2007, according to Unesco, the United Nations’ cultural body. It was acquired by Christian arts and crafts retailer Hobby Lobby for display in its museum of biblical artefacts in 2014, and seized by the US Department of Justice in 2019.
The formal handover ceremony will take place at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC on 23 September. “This exceptional restitution is a major victory over those who mutilate heritage and then traffic it to finance violence and terrorism,” said Unesco director-general Audrey Azoulay, who will speak at the Washington ceremony. “By returning these illegally acquired objects, the authorities here in the United States and in Iraq are allowing the Iraqi people to reconnect with a page in their history.”
-snip-
The 3,600-year-old tablet that shows parts of a Sumerian poem will be returned by the US to the country it was taken from in 1991
Alison Flood
Tue 21 Sep 2021 11.57 BST
A 3,600-year-old tablet showing part of the Epic of Gilgamesh will be formally handed back to Iraq by the US on Thursday.
The tablet, known as the Gilgamesh Dream Tablet, shows parts of a Sumerian poem from the Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the world’s oldest known religious texts. It is believed to have been looted from a museum in Iraq in 1991, and “fraudulently” entered the US in 2007, according to Unesco, the United Nations’ cultural body. It was acquired by Christian arts and crafts retailer Hobby Lobby for display in its museum of biblical artefacts in 2014, and seized by the US Department of Justice in 2019.
The formal handover ceremony will take place at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC on 23 September. “This exceptional restitution is a major victory over those who mutilate heritage and then traffic it to finance violence and terrorism,” said Unesco director-general Audrey Azoulay, who will speak at the Washington ceremony. “By returning these illegally acquired objects, the authorities here in the United States and in Iraq are allowing the Iraqi people to reconnect with a page in their history.”
-snip-
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/sep/21/gilgamesh-dream-tablet-to-be-formally-handed-back-to-iraq
US authorities say the item was illegally imported into the US (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement)
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Source: UN News
UNESCO hails return of looted ancient Gilgamesh tablet to Iraq
The Gilgamesh Dream Tablet - one of the oldest surviving literary works in history - is to be returned to Iraq by the United States later this week, the UN agency for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO), said on Monday.
20 September 2021
Culture and Education
Made of clay and priceless, the Gilgamesh Tablet features inscriptions in Sumerian, a civilisation of ancient Mesopotamia.
The 3,500-year-old treasure was taken from a museum in Iraq after the start of the Gulf War in August 1990.
In 2007, it was introduced fraudulently into the US art market. According to news reports, the artefact was acquired in 2014 by the craft retail chain, Hobby Lobby, for display at the Museum of the Bible, in Washington DC – which is funded by the family of Hobby Lobby’s owner.
The US Department of Justice announced in July, that it was ordering the official handing over of the tablet, as it had entered the US “contrary to federal law”, noting that federal agents had seized the tablet from the museum, in September 2019.
-snip-
The Gilgamesh Dream Tablet - one of the oldest surviving literary works in history - is to be returned to Iraq by the United States later this week, the UN agency for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO), said on Monday.
20 September 2021
Culture and Education
Made of clay and priceless, the Gilgamesh Tablet features inscriptions in Sumerian, a civilisation of ancient Mesopotamia.
The 3,500-year-old treasure was taken from a museum in Iraq after the start of the Gulf War in August 1990.
In 2007, it was introduced fraudulently into the US art market. According to news reports, the artefact was acquired in 2014 by the craft retail chain, Hobby Lobby, for display at the Museum of the Bible, in Washington DC – which is funded by the family of Hobby Lobby’s owner.
The US Department of Justice announced in July, that it was ordering the official handing over of the tablet, as it had entered the US “contrary to federal law”, noting that federal agents had seized the tablet from the museum, in September 2019.
-snip-
Read more: https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/09/1100372