Restitution of a fragment of a Neo-Assyrian relief to Iraq
The Federal Office of Culture (FOC) has handed over a cultural object to the Iraqi Embassy in Bern. The object is a fragment of a Neo-Assyrian relief and dates from the 7th century BC. The relief depicts a battle chariot with three men being pulled by a horse. The stone relief has been definitively confiscated as part of cantonal criminal proceedings and handed over to the FOC for return to its State of origin. The restitution of the Iraqi cultural object is being carried out within the framework of the Federal Act on the International Transfer of Cultural Property, which implements the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property.