After the devastating looting of the Malawi National Museum (MNM) in Upper Egypt, curators have sent a dozen artefacts for restoration.

Five painted wooden sarcophagi, two mummies and a papyri hand written in Demotic, as well as a collection of broken ancient Egyptian and Graeco-Roman statues have been sent to the Al-Ashmounein archaeological galleries, the head of the Museums Department at the Ministry of State of Antiquities (MSA), Ahmed Sharaf, told Ahram Online.

Some of these artefacts were too heavy for vandals to carry out of the museum but were damaged.

The MNM in Al-Minya was left almost empty by pro-Morsi protesters during violence that erupted in the Upper Egyptian city and all over Egypt.

Pro-Morsi sit-ins in Al-Nahda and Rabaa Al-Adawiya squares in Giza and Cairo's Nasr City district, respectively, were dispersed by Egyptian security forces and hundreds died, leading to an Islamist backlash.