During the 2011 Libyan Revolution a number of archaeological and cultural heritage sites suffered from looting. Most noteworthy was the theft of the Benghazi Treasure, a collection of 7700 gold, silver and bronze coins, jewelry and statuettes, from the main branch of Libya’s commercial bank in Benghazi.
For reports of the joint Association of National Committees of the Blue Shield (ANCBS) and International Military Cultural Resources Work Group (IMCuRWG) Mission to Libya, with links to photo documentation see:
- Civil-Military Assessment Mission for Libyan Heritage by Blue Shield and IMCuRWG – September 2011
- 2nd Civil-Military Assessment Mission for Libyan Heritage – November 2011
- USCBS statement on Libya “Protection of Important Libyan (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya) Cultural Heritage Sites” – March 2011
- Blue Shield statement on Libya – March 2011
Latest News & Alerts
June 24, 2025
The U.S. Committee of the Blue Shield would like to thank all those who attended and expressed great interest in our recent webinar, "Introduction to Cultural Property Protection." On Wednesday, June 18th, Dr. Laurie Rush presented [...]
June 3, 2025
A free webinar entitled, "Introduction to Cultural Property Protection," will take place on Wednesday, June 18th at 1:30 pm EDT. Dr. Laurie Rush, USCBS Secretary and Board Member, will present the webinar, and Rachel Dewan, USCBS [...]
March 31, 2025
On March 13th and 14th, DePaul University hosted a conference titled, "Navigating Justice in Cultural Heritage: Intersections of Ethics, Law, and Museum Practice." The conference was organized by the DePaul University College of Law’s Center for [...]