[1/4] The female wolf statue (Lupa Capitolina), which was found in the farm of a citizen, is pictured after disappearing for over thirty years in Benghazi, Libya, July 31, 2023. REUTERS/Esam Omran Al-FetoriBENGHAZI, Libya, Aug 2 (Reuters) - Libyan authorities have recovered a large bronze wolf statue that once sat atop a pillar in central Benghazi before disappearing decades ago, found on a farm whose owner said he bought the sculpture as scrap. Italian colonial authorities erected the statue in the new Benghazi city centre they were building in the 1930s, promoting a connection between ancient Roman settlement of Libya and their modern colonial rule over the country. However, many priceless Libyan antiquities have disappeared: pillaged by Europeans in colonial times, appropriated after independence or looted in the chaos that has followed a 2011 NATO-backed uprising. Khaled al-Hadar, a Libyan researcher on stolen antiquities, said heritage monitoring remained weak in Libya and had not been started until 1974 - after the wolf had disappeared.

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Persons: Omran, Saied Mohammed Bourabida, Bourabida, Khaled al, Muammar Gaddafi's, suckling, Romulus, Remus, Ayman al, Angus McDowall, Alison Williams Organizations: REUTERS, Fetori, Libya, Thomson Locations: Benghazi, Libya, Fetori BENGHAZI, Rome, Sabratha, NATO, Libyan, Warfali