Egypt announced the recovery of 17 archaeological pieces from the United Statesincluding a “significant green sarcophagus” dating from the late Pharaonic period, between 664 and 332 BC, and which had been taken out of the country illegally.
“This is a unique and important moment (…) we recovered the green sarcophagus after years of working with the US authorities,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shokri said at a press conference after a handover ceremony for the pieces. .
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He also stressed that the recovery of these pieces dating from different periods of Egyptian history has been possible thanks to a cooperation protocol signed by Cairo and Washington in 2016 and extended in 2021a year in which – he assured – the Egyptian authorities have recovered more than 5,000 pieces.
At the ceremony, held at the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, in the presence of US embassy representatives, both Shokri and Antiquities Minister Ahmed Isa agreed that “Egypt will spare no effort to recover all its stolen antiquities” or “taken out of the country illegally” through “collaboration with friendly countries”.
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They also pointed out that only in the last 10 years, the North African country has recovered a total of 29,300 pieces, of which 5,300 in 2021 and 110 in 2022which date back to different periods of Egyptian history, thanks to the collaboration of Western and Arab “friendly” countries, such as the United Arab Emirates.
Egypt will spare no effort to recover all its stolen antiquities
They also highlighted how “precious” and “important” the “green sarcophagus” represents, without specifying details, although the archaeologist and president of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Mostafa Waziri, attributed that name to “green face painted on the lid of the sarcophagus“.
“This is the sarcophagus lid of what appears to be a priest from the late Pharaonic period (…) the lid alone weighs more than 500 kilogramsso the thieves apparently stole it without the base because of the weight it might have,” Waziri said at the press conference.
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He explained whate the lid is 2.94 meters long and 0.95 wide“which indicates that there was another, smaller sarcophagus inside”, and noted that “it is named for the green color of the face painting that appears on the lid”.
“The recovery of this sarcophagus is proof of the interest of the Egyptian State in recovering its archaeological pieces that were smuggled out of the country illegally as an integral part of its priceless cultural heritage“, stressed the head of Egyptian diplomacy.
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EFE
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