Assistant Foreign Minister for Cultural Relations Olfat Farah said that Egypt will retrieve 135 artifacts from the United States that date back to the Late Period of the ancient Egyptian civilization (664-111 BC).
The pieces include wooden coffins, two pieces of carved stone, statues, models of boats, 99 coins, a mummy’s hand and 12 ushabti statuettes. They will be handed over to the Egyptian ambassador on behalf of the Antiquities Minister in a ceremony held at the National Geographic Museum in Washington on April 22.
Farah said the pieces were illegally excavated for and smuggled abroad. “We coordinate with international organizations concerned with the preservation of cultural heritages to combat the looting and destruction of historical artifacts in the world,” she said. “We also work on raising the awareness of the people to preserve their cultural heritage.”
She thanked the US authorities for cooperating with the embassy in Washington and the consulate in New York for recovering the smuggled antiquities.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
