Libya’s Department of Antiquities announced last Wednesday (1 December) that it intends in the coming days to lower and carry out conservation and restoration work on the bronze Knight on horseback and the Phoenician ship (symbol of Oea Tripoli), both set on high columns at Tripoli’s Martyr Square.
The Antiquities Department said the decision comes in implementation of the technical recommendations that confirmed the existence of cracks in the bases on which the statues are erected and for safety reasons.
The Department stated that the statues will be returned to their original positions ”immediately’’ after the completion of restoration work.
The disappearance of the Gazelle statue
Unsurprisingly, the announcement has set the social media conspiracy train off. It will be recalled that the Italian colonial era naked woman and gazelle bronze statue (the Gazelle Statue), located a few hundred metres away from the two above mentioned columned bronze statues, disappeared in 2014.
They have never been officially located since. It is widely believed that the Gazelle statue had been removed by Islamists. Islam forbids Iconolatry or idolatry. It also forbids the display of naked women. Social media conspiracists fear that the two bronze statues might suffer a similar fate.
Tripoli’s iconic gazelle and mermaid statue destroyed by vandals
