0 artefacts back to Egypt
After two years with Brussels Airport Customs Police, Egypt is retrieving a collection of 80 artefacts that were stolen from Egypt and illegally smuggled out of the country
80 artefacts back to Egypt
After two years with Brussels Airport Customs Police, Egypt is retrieving a collection of 80 artefacts that were stolen from Egypt and illegally smuggled out of the country.
The story started in April 2010 when Customs at Brussels Airport caught an Egyptian woman trying to smuggle 80 genuine Egyptian objects concealed inside two large replica Egyptian statues.
The objects were confiscated by the Belgian police while Brussels National Museum verified their authenticity. The museum referred the case to a Brussels court and Egypt succeeded in obtaining a court order that the artefacts should be returned.
Usama al-Nahhas, director of the returned antiquities section at the Ministry of State for Antiquities (MSA), said that the objects include 11 small wooden and limestone statuettes, 11 amulets and 27 scarabs; Islamic cylindrical seals; a Coptic child’s robe and a small decorated piece of textile; a lion-shaped Ptolemaic pot and a prehistoric clay pot.
The 34th National Arts Exhibition in Cairo
Under the title “Freedom of Creativity”, Minister of Culture Shaker Abdel-Hamid last Sunday opened the 34th annual Egyptian National Arts Exhibition at the Palace of Arts at the Cairo Opera House grounds in Gezira.
This year’s exhibition includes more than a thousand different artworks by the 700 participants in all fields of art: painting, photography, graphics, sculpture, calligraphy, and video art.
The exhibition will run until 15 May at Cairo Opera House.
Against a backdrop of an Islamist rising tide that is hostile to the arts, several artists voiced opinions endorsing freedom of expression and creativity, and stressing that art and religion do not conflict.
WATANI International
8 May 2012