Tunisia's Culture Ministry Blocks Auction of Looted Antiquities
ARTNET NEWS
By Coline Milliard
TUNISIA---Tunisia's Culture Ministry intervened last week to prevent the sale of several artifacts due to go under the hammer at Paris' auction house Millon Drouot, the Quotidien de l'art reports. The pieces under scrutiny were due to feature in the “Civilisation" sale last Friday, and include a Roman headstone and El Aouja ceramics. As the QdA points out, it is the first time a North African country has made such a significant move. The illegal traffic of stolen antiquities has longed plagued Tunisia and its neighboring countries (see “Egypt's “Indiana Jones" Zahi Hawass Questioned Over Pyramid Theft").[link]
By Coline Milliard
TUNISIA---Tunisia's Culture Ministry intervened last week to prevent the sale of several artifacts due to go under the hammer at Paris' auction house Millon Drouot, the Quotidien de l'art reports. The pieces under scrutiny were due to feature in the “Civilisation" sale last Friday, and include a Roman headstone and El Aouja ceramics. As the QdA points out, it is the first time a North African country has made such a significant move. The illegal traffic of stolen antiquities has longed plagued Tunisia and its neighboring countries (see “Egypt's “Indiana Jones" Zahi Hawass Questioned Over Pyramid Theft").[link]
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