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
September 23, 2023
The Blue Shield is mourning the loss of Mr. Babacar Ndiaye (1951-2023), a passionate advocate of cultural heritage protection who served as President of the Senegalese Blue Shield Committee since 2012. Mr. Ndiaye was a trained [...]
September 18, 2023
This past week has been an immensely difficult one for much of North Africa. On Friday, September 8th, the strongest earthquake of the past century struck the High Atlas region of Morocco, killing nearly 3,000 people, [...]
September 15, 2023
On September 13, 2023, The Art Newspaper reported that a new briefing prepared by Blue Shield International for the European Union Advisory Mission asserts that President Vladimir Putin has “premeditatively, systematically – and provably – targeted heritage sites [...]
