Egypt has succeeded in recovering 36 Egyptian artifacts from the United States that had left the country illegally, in a new achievement that reflects the Egyptian state's commitment to protecting its heritage and preserving its civilizational identity, and in implementation of the President's directives in this regard.
The recovery was carried out through the efforts of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, represented by the Supreme Council of Antiquities, in full coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Emigration and Egyptian Expatriates, the International Cooperation Department at the Office of the Egyptian Public Prosecutor, and the relevant security and oversight authorities in Egypt.
An archaeological committee from the Supreme Council of Antiquities received the pieces for deposit at the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir, in preparation for their restoration and display at the museum according to its exhibition scenario.
This achievement was also the fruit of productive cooperation with the competent US authorities, particularly the New York District Attorney's Office, within the framework of the bilateral memorandum of understanding between Egypt and the United States on the protection and recovery of antiquities.
In this context, Sherif Fathy, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, noted that the recovery of these artifacts confirms the Egyptian state's firm commitment to protecting its heritage, preserving its cultural property and recovering its antiquities that left the country illegally. He praised the fruitful cooperation between Egyptian and American national institutions, which reflects a growing awareness of the importance of combating illicit trafficking in cultural and archaeological property and protecting human heritage, and stressed that work will continue to recover every piece that left Egypt illegally.
Dr. Mohamed Ismail Khaled, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, explained that the recovery of this collection represents a new step in a series of achievements made possible by the systematic scientific and legal work the Egyptian state follows in the antiquities recovery file. He said these pieces are not merely historical holdings, but living testimony to a civilization built by Egyptians over thousands of years, and their return to the homeland crowns tireless efforts and effective international cooperation.
Shaaban Abdel Gawad, Director General of the General Administration for Repatriated Antiquities and supervisor of the Central Administration of Archaeological Ports at the Supreme Council of Antiquities, stated that the recovered pieces comprised three main groups. The first group included 11 artifacts handed over by the New York District Attorney's Office, among them a Roman-era mummy mask of a young man, a vessel in the shape of the god "Bes", and a Roman-era limestone funerary stela.
The second group, handed over by the Metropolitan Museum of Art to the Egyptian Consulate in New York on its own initiative, included 24 rare manuscripts bearing writings in Coptic and Syriac.
The third group consists of a painted plaster panel from the 18th Dynasty, which was confiscated by the New York District Attorney's Office after it was proven to have left Egypt illegally.
