The Prague National Museum displays 20 artifacts that were restored by Czech specialists after they were damaged by the Islamic State , before returning them to Syria next month.

The pieces include three funerary slabs of limestone that were in the ancient site of Palmyra, which is on the UNESCO list, and were damaged during the control of the jihadists of the Islamic State over the city in 2015.

"Objects were damaged as a result of the battles, intentionally for ideological reasons, or by people looking for something to sell," National Museum director Michal Lukich told AFP.
He added, on the sidelines of the exhibition, titled "A Restored Face," that "these paintings were destroyed with iron hammers."

Syrian government forces regained control of Palmyra in 2017, after the ancient city witnessed public executions. The Islamic State has destroyed many of the city's famous landmarks.

Similar to previous cooperation agreements with Sudan and Afghanistan, the National Museum brought the twenty artifacts from Syria in 2022, and their restoration work took a year by a team of six technicians.

"There are pieces of metal, bronze, iron and funerary stelae from Palmyra," Lokesh said.
The exhibits include a gold-plated pin from 1600-1200 BC, bronze blades and a knife, and small bronze and copper statues of ancient deities.

The Prague National Museum has been cooperating with the General Directorate of Antiquities and Museums in Syria since 2007.
"We started helping them by providing them with indispensable materials for the maintenance, preservation, transportation and processing of artifacts mainly from war zones," Lokesh said.

The cooperation led to the formation of a joint antiquities team working near the city of Latakia in western Syria.
After the month-long exhibition, the artifacts will be returned to Syria at the end of May, according to Lokesh.

"I hope that the situation in Syria has calmed down in a way that allows it not to be damaged again," he told AFP.
"The exhibition does not only represent Syria, but all countries in the world that are witnessing wars and damage to their monuments," he added.