Isis militants destroy 2,000-year-old statue of lion at Palmyra
Source: Agence France-Presse
Isis militants destroy 2,000-year-old statue of lion at Palmyra
Agence France-Presse in Beirut
Thursday 2 July 2015 19.05 BST
Islamic State (Isis) jihadis have destroyed a 2,000-year-old statue of a lion outside the museum in the Syrian city of Palmyra, the countrys antiquities director has said.
Maamoun Abdelkarim said the statue, known as the Lion of al-Lat, was an irreplaceable piece. IS members on Saturday destroyed the Lion of al-Lat, which is a unique piece that is three metres [10ft] tall and weighs 15 tonnes, Abdelkarim told AFP. Its the most serious crime they have committed against Palmyras heritage.
The limestone statue was discovered in 1977 by a Polish archaeological mission at the temple of al-Lat, a pre-Islamic Arabian goddess, and dated back to the 1st century BC.
Abdelkarim said the statue had been covered with a metal plate and sandbags to protect it from fighting, but we never imagined that IS would come to the town to destroy it.
Isis captured Palmyra, a Unesco world heritage site, from government forces on 21 May, prompting international concern about the fate of the citys antiquities.
[font size=1]
-snip-[/font]
Read more:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/02/isis-militants-destroy-palmyra-stone-lion-al-lat