 Treasure hunters have sought out the Eshmun Temple since antiquity ; around 1900 artifacts bearing Phoenician inscriptions from the temple site found their way to <unk> antiquities markets where they stirred the interest of the Ottoman authorities and prompted a series of archeological <unk> . During the civil war , upon a request from then Lebanese director general of antiquities Maurice <unk> , Maurice Dunand moved more than 2000 artifacts from Sidon to a subterranean chamber at the Byblos crusader castle , 30 kilometres ( 19 mi ) north of Beirut . In 1981 , the depot was looted and around 600 sculptures and architectural elements were stolen and smuggled out of Lebanon . Rolf <unk> , ex @-@ director of the Institute of Classical <unk> of Basel affirmed during a conference in Beirut in December 2009 the successful identification and return of eight sculptures to the Lebanese national museum . 
