The Egyptian Ministries of Tourism and Antiquities and Foreign Affairs managed to successfully retrieve three artifacts from Germany, as part of the state’s efforts to preserve its cultural heritage and recover any artifacts illegally taken out of Egypt.
A delegation from the Culture and Media Sector of the German Foreign Ministry delivered the artifacts to the Egyptian Embassy in Berlin this week, which will soon be returned to Egypt.
Egypt’s Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Sherif Fathy, hailed the great attention paid by the Egyptian state and its institutions towards preserving its heritage, and the role played by the Egyptian Ministries of Tourism and Antiquities and Foreign Affairs in retrieving Egyptian artifacts that were illegally taken out of the country.
He stressed that this event is yet another achievement added to numerous unprecedented achievements in Egyptian-German bilateral relations regarding combating the illegal trafficking of cultural property and smuggling of antiquities.
The Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Mohamed Ismail Khaled said that Egypt was first informed of these artifacts when the Hamburg Art Museum in Germany contacted the Egyptian Embassy in Berlin, announcing its desire to hand over the body-parts of an ancient Egyptian mummy.
Customs authorities at Frankfurt Airport also confiscated an amulet in the form of the ancient Egyptian Ankh symbol while trying to enter the country illegally from Britain.
The Director General of the General Administration for the Retrieval of Antiquities and Supervisor of the Central Administration for Archaeological Ports, Shaaban Abdel-Gawad, explained that the recovered pieces include a hand and a head of a mummy plated in gold, which had been displayed in the Hamburg Art Museum for more than 30 years.
After their recent examination it was found that they are more than 2,000 years old, and the circumstances of their arrival in Germany are still unknown.
Abdel-Gawad added that the amulet dates back to 600 BC.
