Egypt Recovers Old Antiquities from UK, Germany

(MENAFN) Egypt has successfully retrieved thirteen historical relics that had been illicitly exported to the United Kingdom and Germany, according to an announcement made by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities on Sunday.

This initiative forms part of a broader strategy aimed at reclaiming Egypt's stolen cultural treasures.

The recovery process was undertaken in collaboration with the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and with the cooperation of all three nations involved.

London Metropolitan Police affirmed that the returned items had been trafficked out of Egypt via a global antiquities smuggling operation.

In the case of Germany, the return of the artifacts was prompted by a formal alert issued by port officials in Hamburg to the Egyptian Embassy in Berlin.

The notification confirmed that the artifacts had left Egypt through unlawful channels.

All retrieved pieces have now been transferred to the Egyptian Museum located in Tahrir Square.

There, they will undergo conservation and restoration procedures before being exhibited to the public.

Officials outlined that among the items repatriated from Germany are a human skull and a detached hand belonging to an unknown mummy.

Also included is an amulet shaped like an ankh, the ancient Egyptian symbol denoting “life.”

The collection from the United Kingdom features several notable pieces: a green faience container, a limestone funerary stela from the New Kingdom era, and a small red amulet in the form of a baboon.

Additionally, a miniature blue faience funerary jar dating back to the 18th Dynasty (1550–1292 BC) was among the recovered items.

Other significant artifacts returned include a bronze crown once adorning a statue of the deity Osiris.

This crown, embellished with a feather, cobra, and ram's head, is believed to originate from between the 22nd and 26th Dynasties (945–525 BC).

A funerary mask composed of beads, attributed to the 26th Dynasty (664–525 BC), was also recovered, along with several other burial-related amulets made from faience and dark stone.

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