Antiquities Minister Khaled al-Enany has announced that Egypt succeeded in
retrieving ancient artefacts from the US, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates
in the course of a week since the beginning of December 2016. The artefacts had
been stolen and illegally smuggled out of Egypt, Dr Enany said in a statement.
On 1 December 2016, the Egyptian embassy in the US received four Late Period
artefacts. These include of a shrivelled mummified hand; a painted child
sarcophagus; a gilded mummy mask; and the anthropoid lid of a wooden
sarcophagus decorated with different ancient Egyptian religious scenes; as well as
a painted linen mummy shroud.
On 2 December, the Egyptian Embassy in Switzerland received three parts of an
ancient Egyptian stelae that goes back to the first millennia BC and that went
missing in 1995 missing. On 6 December, Egypt's ambassador to the UAE
received two stolen Islamic-era lamps.
The recovered objects are in the process of being packaged and shipped to Egypt.
Dr Enany expressed his full appreciation for all the efforts exerted on the local and
foreign levels to protect and preserve Egypt’s cultural and archaeological heritage.
2
Early December 2016, Egypt signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with
the United States that imposes restrictions on the importation of illicit antiquities
from Egypt.
Watani International
10 January 2017