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Switzerland returns illegally exported cultural artefacts to Iraq

A close-up of a relief featuring several human figures.
One of the objects returned on Friday. Keystone/Anthony Anex

On Friday, three illegally exported important Mesopotamian cultural artefacts were returned to Iraq.

Interior Minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider handed over the two reliefs and the statue to Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein. Before the objects leave Switzerland, they will be on public display in Bern. The handover took place at a ceremony in Bern on Friday. Hussein will return the 1,700 to 2,800-year-old cultural artefacts to Iraq. 

+‘Exceptional’ Bronze Age artefacts unearthed in Switzerland

Adapted from German by DeepL/kc/amva

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