This Watani issue of 6 August 2023 carries a significant story titled: “Egypt’s rare heritage … still an open file”. The story, replete with substantiated facts, tackles the painful loss of priceless pieces of Egyptian heritage: monuments and antiquities, literary and artistic gems that at some point disappeared from Egypt’s archaeological sites, museums, palaces, or cultural venues, only to appear somewhere else in the world. The history of these precious pieces range from the ancient to the more modern centuries; they were lost, given away, stolen, or smuggled.
The story reveals the arduous efforts made by Egypt to recover these pieces; efforts which sometimes succeeded in bringing home lost items of its heritage, but which in other cases did not succeed. We remain hopeful, however, that one day they will find their way back home.
Let us start by going through the Egyptian monuments and antiquities that left Egypt legitimately, as when Egyptian authorities gifted them to other countries. These pieces have adorned public places and museums in American and European cities, standing proud witnesses to the singular Egyptian civilisation. Among these pieces are obelisks in Paris and Rome; and small Egyptian temples which were gifted by Egypt to countries in recognition for their valued contribution to the 1960s rescue of the ancient Egyptian Nubia temples which, had it not been for that UNESCO-led rescue operation, would have drowned under waters of the Aswan High Dam reservoir.
Among these temples was the Temple of Dendur, built during the Roman era in the first century BC on the western bank of the Nile south of Aswan; it was moved in 1963 to save it from drowning in the High Dam reservoir. The Temple of Dendur was gifted to the US during the time of President Lyndon Johnson. It was dismantled and moved to the Metropolitan Museum in New York on 28 April 1967, where it was reassembled in a dazzlingly attractive setup surrounded by a lake that reflects its beauty and sanctity.
Another temple, the Temple of Taffeh, today stands in the Dutch city of Leiden. It once stood in the Nubian village of Amberkab; it was built of sandstone between 25BC and 14AD during the Roman era. The Temple of Taffeh was offered to The Netherlands in 1960, and was reassembled in 1971 at the Archeologisch Museum, Leiden.
The Temple of Ellesyia was offered to Italy in 1966; it was once located in the Nubian village of Ibrim, and was built during the era of King Thutmosis III. The Torino Museum has been home to the Temple of Ellesyia ever since it was reassembled.
The Temple of Debod, built in 2BC, today adorns Madrid’s Parque de la Montaña after Egypt gifted it to Spain in 1960. Before that it was located south of Aswan near the first cataract on the western bank of the Nile.
The Ptolemaic Gate of the Temple of Kalabsha, was offered to Germany in 1971; it stands today in the Egyptian Antiquities Pavilion at the Berlin Museum. The temple was situated on the west bank of the Nile in Nubia, and was originally built around 30BC. With help from Germany, the Temple of Kalabsha was relocated north of the High Dam in the 1960s.
I would like to refer to the opinion of archaeologists and intellectuals in response to claims made by some Egyptians that Egypt had relinquished its heritage. Archaeologists and intellectuals all agree that the legitimate transfer of antiquities to places outside Egypt is a fait accompli; such pieces cannot be retrieved. In addition, we must realise that Egyptian antiquities which stand in prominent places in America and Europe or in museums act as vestiges and reminders of the greatness of Egypt’s civilisation.
Back to Watani’s story “Egypt’s rare heritage ..still an open file”, I would like to shed light on a few important points.
“The deterioration or disappearance of any item of cultural or natural heritage constitutes a harmful impoverishment of the heritage of all the nations of the world.” This figured in the 1972 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of World Heritage, which noted the exposure of world heritage to destruction, not only as a result of usual factors of erosion and weathering, but as a result of changing social, economic and political conditions. Consequently, the agreement stipulated that it was of utmost importance to preserve the world heritage for all mankind.
We proudly and appreciatively record the efforts of Egypt in tracking down and working to restore items that belong to the country’s heritage, be they antiquities, manuscripts, books, or plastic arts, which had been smuggled out of Egypt.
We proudly note that among the success stories of the recovery of ancient Egyptian antiquities, was the endeavour by the Egyptian National Library and Archives (NLA) to retrieve the “Manuscript of Sultan Qansuh al-Ghuri” who was the second-to-last Mamluk ruler before the Ottoman conquest of Egypt; he ruled in 1501 – 1516. The manuscript which includes verses from the Qur’an had been registered with the NLA in 1884; it was recovered before attempting to sell it at Sotheby’s auction house in London in November 2018.
From inside Egypt, the NLA received four rare volumes of the 19th century epic book on Egypt, compiled by the scholars that had accompanied Napoleon’s military campaign against the country in 1798 – 1801, the Déscription de L’Égypte, written in French. The gift came from one of the heirs of Hamid Abdel-Wahed Mahmoud; the four volumes had been owned by Hamid Mahmoud’s grandfather, Ahmed Mahmoud Pasha, one of the dignitaries of Beheira region west of the Nile Delta.
The German authorities handed Egypt a rare 19th century Ottoman Cedid Atlas, after NLA learned that the rare book was up for sale at an auction house in Berlin. German security authorities stopped the sale, and the book was returned to Egypt.
In cooperation with the NLA, Egypt’s Embassy in London recovered an Egyptian 500-year-old manuscript named “The Summary of the Science of History”, it was put for sale at Bonham’s auction hall, but had been lost from NLA since the 1970s.
The keen efforts of Egypt to recover items that constitute part of its ancient or more recent cultural heritage are to be lauded. Authorities continue to monitor and trace what was lost, and continue to work on retrieving it and bringing it back to its homeland of Egypt.
Watani International
4 August 2023