Yemen’s antiquities found out in Paris warehouse

PARIS, July 21 (YPA) – The Yemeni researcher interested in archaeology, Abdullah Mohsen, revealed rare Yemeni antiquities, including a statue of “King Qataban,” in a warehouse on the outskirts of the French capital, Paris.

The researcher said in a post on Facebook: “The King of Qataban (Shahr Hilal) appeared, among 15 statues, antiques, and inscriptions from the antiquities of Yemen, in a goods warehouse in Paris.

“In the first days of January 2020, when the police conduct a routine inspection, it had found 15 antiquities from Yemen in one of the warehouses, where the police immediately informed the Center for Combating Trafficking in Cultural Property and Antiquities of the French Ministry of the Interior, to verify their authenticity,” he added.

“The police also contacted the Yemeni embassy in Paris to provide confirmation that these pieces belonging to Yemen, which in turn informed the Foreign Ministry in an two year-lasted absurd session due to the Ministry of Culture’s loss of competence and desire to achieve because the coalition-backed Aden government did not provide an adequate budget for the ministry’s work, according to their testimony, and thus the Antiquities Authority’s loss of the necessary capabilities to perform its work,” Mohsen affirmed in his post.

“With coming fifth year of seizing the antiquities collection in Paris, which have not decided yet on it and returned it to Yemen, it was important to clarify these details to those interested and to the good patriotic people anxiously waiting to know the conditions of Yemen’s smuggled antiquities abroad,” he explained.