'800 Iranian artifacts found in Europe'

"Iran's National Museum has identified almost 800 Persian artifacts, which have been smuggled to two foreign galleries from 1940 to 1984," Fars news agency quoted Ardakani as saying on Wednesday.

The decision was made for the first time by Head of Iran's Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization Hamid Baghai, she added.

Ardakani reiterated that most of the identified historical objects had been smuggled out of Iran and sold in foreign countries.

For the time being, the two European galleries have been investigated, but in the future other foreign museums will be examined for Iranian objects, she noted.

Iran managed to identify Persian objects through the information provided by these two galleries, including their names and date and place of discovery and in some cases their pictures, the Iranian official concluded.

Meanwhile, the Cyrus Cylinder, which is considered the world's first charter of human rights, was sent to Iran on loan from British Museum in London. It was sent in September 2010 after a prolonged delay.

The Cyrus the Great Cylinder is inscribed in Babylonian cuneiform with an account by Cyrus II, king of Persia (559-530 BC) and is considered the world's first charter of human rights.

It is also among the few artifacts that give precise data about the reign of one of the greatest Persian rulers of the whole Middle East.

AO/MB/HRF