France to return 239 stolen artifacts to Egypt

The Ministry of Antiquities is due to receive at least 239 ancient artifacts over the next few days that had been stolen from Egypt and smuggled to France. These are reported to include Ancient Egyptian, Roman, Byzantine and Islamic artifacts.

However, there are tens of other smuggled artifacts which may, or may not, be returned from Paris.

In a statement issued on its webpage on Tuesday, the Ministry for Antiquities reported that a total of 302 Egyptian artifacts had been unlawfully excavated, and illegally transported out of the country. French authorities have directly assisted in seizing the smuggled pieces abroad.

However, according to the ministry’s statement, specialists from the Louvre Museum in Paris claim that from these 302 pieces, only 239 are genuine artifacts.

Minister of Antiquities Mamdouh al-Damaty has nonetheless called on French authorities to return the 63 pieces in question, along with the 239 other pieces, so that they may be examined altogether in Egypt.

According to Ali Ahmed, director of the Authority for Recovered Artifacts, these pieces smuggled to France include colored wooden figurines of Ancient Egyptian sailors (from a model funerary boat); a limestone tablet depicting offerings to the gods Osiris and Isis; along with Ushabti statuettes, buried with mummified remains to serve the deceased in their afterlife.

Other pieces due to be returned to Egypt include numerous coins from the Roman, Byzantine and Islamic eras.

In the ministry’s statement, Damaty pointed out that a bilateral agreement is being ironed out between Cairo and Paris in order to curtail the smuggling of artifacts from Egypt.

The Ministries of Interior and Antiquities have reported a recent spike in the number of both artifacts smugglers and illegal excavations across Egypt.

This week alone, security forces arrested five individuals in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Sohag, reportedly during an unauthorized dig for artifacts, while another two individuals are reported to have died in Minya Governorate after being buried alive during a similar excavation attempt.