The director general of museums in the country said about the confiscation of a historical artifact belonging to Iran by the British Border Police: This case is related to 2016 and the process of returning it to the country began and efforts are underway to return it to Iran. Iran this year.
According to informants, following the announcement of the seizure of a smuggled Sasanian rock worth 30,000 pounds in England, it was displayed for three months at the British Museum, in coordination with the Iranian government. Morteza Adibzadeh – Director General of State Museums He clarified more details on this matter and said: With the publication of the news of the British Border Police’s confiscation of a historical work pertaining to Iran, it was announced that a shipment containing part of a Sasanian relief had been handed over to the British. Police Museum. The case dates back to 2016, when a historic artifact was seized from a passenger plane at Stansted Airport. Border guard officers suspected it of the type of work packaging, and after inspection this shipment was confiscated.
He continued: This case was also investigated by Interpol, but no arrests have been made so far. With the follow-up of the General Directorate of Museums under the Deputy Head of the Cultural Heritage Department and the continuous cooperation with the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in London, as well as the correspondence that took place last year, the process of returning this work to the country has begun and we are trying to return it to Iran this year.
The Director General of the country’s museums stated: Earlier, British Museum officials requested that this work be displayed in the British Museum for a period before returning it to Iran. In view of the cooperation of this Museum in the provision of information and expertise and in the restoration of this valuable work, it was decided that after the official announcement of the safe delivery of the piece by the Museum, this engraving should be displayed in the British Museum at the latest. for three months, and then sent to Iran through legal procedures
Adibzadeh said about the authenticity of this outstanding painting in light of the ambiguity and doubts raised about its falsity: Given that the British Museum has prominent experts in the field of history and art from the Sasanian era, it was professionally examined and its authenticity was confirmed, and its source was announced in the Fars region. Of course, after the work returns to Iran, we will carry out the necessary checks to ensure its validity and experience.
The director of the Museums Center at the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts said: According to the investigations conducted on this relief, it appears that this work was part of a relief of a larger formation. Currently, the lack of an inscription makes it difficult to identify the person carved in this inscription. Although its external evidence shows the image of a high-ranking official from the Sasanian era.
John Simpson – Senior Curator and Archaeologist in the Middle East Department of the British Museum As he told the Guardian: ‘We have almost never had such a case where a figure was cut out of rock with this level of brutality. It was cut incredibly badly with a milling machine and put into a small box without proper packaging and the box was secured with nails.’
Simpson said the following about the origin of this rock inscription: “Although the Sasanian capital was at Tissphon, near present-day Bagdad, this image appears to have been carved from a rock in Shiraz, and since this image is from limestone found throughout Iran it may be “It is shaved and its exact location cannot be determined. There are only about 30 Sasanian rock inscriptions, most of which date back to the third century A.D. Almost all of them are in a relatively small part of Iran and the province of Fars.”
According to British Museum officials, this ancient work was damaged in packaging and transportation, and has been restored
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