Unique stolen ancient Egyptian statue to return from Germany soon

Nevine El-Aref , Sunday 14 Jun 2015

Egypt has succeeded in stopping the sale of a stolen ancient Egyptian statue; artefact will return to Egypt soon

statue
The upper part of the statue

Following diplomatic negotiations, Egypt has succeeded to stop the sale of a unique ancient Egyptian statue at auction hall in Germany.

Minister of Antiquities Mamdouh Eldamaty announced that legal procedures and investigations are now taking place in Germany in order to return the statue to its homeland.

Eldamaty told Ahram Online that the statue was discovered in 2008 in Aswan by a Swiss archaeological mission and was stored since in the Elephantine archaeological galleries.

In 2013, the Elephantine galleries were subject to looting and the statue was stolen among other objects.

At the time, the Ministry of Antiquities created a list of the stolen objects and put it on the red list of Interpol, in order to guarantee its return if it appeared in any auction hall or on the antiquities trading market.

Ahmed Ali, head of the repatriation of stolen antiquities section, said that the statue is carved in ivory and depicts a figure holding a gazelle on its shoulders.

##

 

Short link: