Thursday March 28th, 2024
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Two Smuggled Artefacts Returned to Egypt from Belgium

After being sussed out at a Belgian exhibition, these two artefacts are finally coming home.

Cairo Scene

Two smuggled artefacts have recently been returned to Egypt, after being discovered in Belgium by local authorities at an antiques exhibition. The two pieces are a wooden painted figurine of a man resting on a pedestal, dating back to the Old Kingdom (2686-2181 BC) and a wooden Ushabti figure that dates back to the Late Period (664-332 BC).


When the exhibition’s owner couldn’t produce the proper documentation for the artefacts, the artefacts were seized and then handed over to the Repatriation Antiquities Department (RAD) at Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. Earlier this year, RAD managed to repatriate 16 artefacts from the United States of America, as part of a larger investigation into the Metropolitan Museum of Arts.