On Saturday, journalists, photographers and TV anchors flocked to a display hall in the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square, trying to catch a glimpse of a special exhibition of recovered stolen artefacts.

Egyptian Minister of Antiquities Mohamed Ibrahim told reporters during the exhibition inauguration that 140 objects of the 200 on display at the exhibition were recovered from countries around the globe, while the other 60 were seized in Egypt by a force from the tourism and antiquities police before they could be sold on to antiquities dealers.

Ibrahim praised the work of the tourism and antiquities police, as well as the ambassadors of Germany, the UK, Spain, Australia, China and New Zealand for their help in restoring the stolen treasures.

The most recent batch arrived two weeks ago, Ibrahim said, and includes ten objects that were stolen from the Egyptian Museum on 28 January 2011.

Ali Ahmed, head of the repatriation department within the antiquities ministry, said that the ten items are among the most significant objects on display, and include a golden statuette of Tutankhamun.

A statue depicting Akhenaten’s daughter and 40 golden jewellery pieces stolen from the Malawi Museum in Minya are also among the recovered objects.

The exhibition will last for three months, after which all the objects will be returned to their original locations.