Egypt recovered 36 ancient artifacts from the United States that had been smuggled out of the country, authorities announced on Thursday.
Egypt recovered 36 ancient artifacts from the United States, authorities announced on Thursday, in the latest effort to reclaim its ancient heritage as tens of thousands of antiquities are believed to have been smuggled out of the country over the years.
What happened: The items were retrieved in three batches over an unspecified period of time. The first consisted of 11 artifacts that included a mummy mask of a young man dating back to the Roman era, a vessel depicting the god Bes and a limestone funerary stela also from the Roman period, the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism said in a statement released on Thursday.
The pieces had been confiscated by the US Attorney's Office in New York and were handed over to the Egyptian Consulate General in New York.
The second group was made up of 24 manuscripts featuring Coptic and Syriac texts that were voluntarily delivered by the Metropolitan Museum of Art to the Egyptian Consulate in a "gesture of goodwill," according to the statement.
A manuscript that was among the recovered artifacts. (Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
The consulate received a third batch that included a painted limestone relief from the 18th Dynasty. It was confiscated by the New York Attorney's Office after it was proven that it had been illegally exported from Egypt.
The statement did not specify when these pieces were returned. It said that the Foreign Ministry delivered the pieces to an archaeological committee from the Supreme Council of Antiquities, which will handle their restoration before they are displayed at the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square.
According to the Tourism Ministry statement, the repatriation of the items was a joint effort by the Supreme Council of Antiquities, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Immigration and Egyptian Expatriates' Affairs and other Egyptian regulatory bodies in coordination with US authorities including the New York Attorney's Office and within the framework of a 2021 memorandum of understanding between Egypt and the US that facilitates bilateral cooperation to return trafficked cultural objects from Egypt.
One of the recovered artifacts. (Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
"The recovery of these artifacts underscores the Egyptian state's unwavering commitment to protecting its heritage, preserving its cultural assets and repatriating antiquities that were illegally exported," Egypt's Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Sherif Fathy said in the statement. He praised the "fruitful cooperation between Egyptian and US national institutions, which reflects a growing awareness of the importance of combating the illicit trafficking of cultural and archaeological property and protecting human heritage."
What it means: The repatriation is the latest in a series of successful recoveries by Egypt.
Egypt has long struggled with illegal excavations and smuggling. Tens of thousands of antiquities have been exported illegally from Egypt and put up for sale at global auction halls, including reputable houses like Christie's New York auction house. While there is no official data available on how many artifacts had been stolen and smuggled out of the country, some estimates put the number at more than a million, the majority of which are exhibited in museums across the world.
Egypt has been demanding the return of its stolen antiquities, including the infamous Rosetta Stone, which is displayed at the British Museum in London. The granite stone dates back 2,200 years and is engraved with hieroglyphs, Ancient Greek and demotic script.
It was discovered in the city of Rosetta (modern-day Rashid) in the Nile Delta by soldiers of Napoleon's army in 1799 and shipped to London in 1802.
On Sunday, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof told Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi during his visit to Cairo that his country will return a 3,500-year-old stone head from the dynasty of Thutmose III.
In August, the Netherlands returned a collection of rare artifacts to Egypt, including a figurine, part of a coffin and a mummy head from the Late Period (664-332 BC), that were illegally excavated and taken out of the country.
Also in August, Egyptian authorities recovered 10 artifacts from Britain and three others from Germany. They include carved limestone slabs from the New Kingdom (1550-1077 BC), a fragment of a bronze crown, a beaded funerary mask, a skull, a mummified hand and several amulets.
In May, a total of 25 ancient artifacts including stone and wooden coffin lids, funerary masks and a large alabaster vessel used to store sacred oils were repatriated from the US.
According to the Ministry of Tourism's Antiquities Repatriation Department, Egypt has recovered nearly 30,000 illegally smuggled artifacts from abroad between 2011 and 2021.
Know more: Egypt's relentless efforts to recover its heritage come as Egypt inaugurated the Grand Egyptian Museum near the Giza Pyramids on Nov. 1, two decades after construction began.
At nearly 500,000 square meters, the museum boasts a collection of more than 100,000 artifacts spanning prehistoric times to the Greco-Roman period. It is the world's largest archaeological museum dedicated to a single civilization. It features a complete collection of Tutankhamun artifacts, which include more than 5,000 pieces.
The opening was attended by Sisi as well as world leaders, including German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the crown princes of Oman and Bahrain.
The opening ceremony featured performances by Egyptian pop stars and an international orchestra.