Ancient fragments head back to Egypt
Source: Agencies |
December 15, 2009, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
FRANCE has handed over to Egyptian officials five fragments of an ancient wall painting at the center of a dispute between Egypt and the Louvre Museum.
President Nicolas Sarkozy showed one of the fragments - a pockmarked slab with sepia and blue tones featuring two figures in profile - to his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak yesterday, after the two men had lunch in Paris.
Egypt's chief archaeologist Zahi Hawass cut ties with the Louvre in October, saying the famed Paris museum had refused to return the fragments. Egyptian officials said the artifacts, from a 3,200-year-old tomb near the ancient temple city of Luxor, were stolen in the 1980s.
The move threatened to halt French archaeological research in Egypt, and two days later French officials agreed to hand over the fragments. France said they had been acquired by the Louvre "in good faith" in 2000 and 2003.
Hawass is leading efforts to reclaim what he says are antiquities stolen from the country and purchased by leading world museums.
He is also planning to ask the British Museum to hand over the Rosetta Stone.
The ancient stone was the key to deciphering hieroglyphs on the tombs of Egyptian pharaohs and is one of six ancient relics he wants to recover from museums around the world.
"I did not write yet to the British Museum but I will. I will tell them that we need the Rosetta Stone to come back to Egypt for good," Hawass said.
"The British Museum has hundreds of thousands of artefacts in the basement and as exhibits. I am only needing one piece to come back, the Rosetta Stone.
"It is an icon of our Egyptian identity and its homeland should be Egypt."
The Rosetta Stone dates back to 196 BC.
President Nicolas Sarkozy showed one of the fragments - a pockmarked slab with sepia and blue tones featuring two figures in profile - to his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak yesterday, after the two men had lunch in Paris.
Egypt's chief archaeologist Zahi Hawass cut ties with the Louvre in October, saying the famed Paris museum had refused to return the fragments. Egyptian officials said the artifacts, from a 3,200-year-old tomb near the ancient temple city of Luxor, were stolen in the 1980s.
The move threatened to halt French archaeological research in Egypt, and two days later French officials agreed to hand over the fragments. France said they had been acquired by the Louvre "in good faith" in 2000 and 2003.
Hawass is leading efforts to reclaim what he says are antiquities stolen from the country and purchased by leading world museums.
He is also planning to ask the British Museum to hand over the Rosetta Stone.
The ancient stone was the key to deciphering hieroglyphs on the tombs of Egyptian pharaohs and is one of six ancient relics he wants to recover from museums around the world.
"I did not write yet to the British Museum but I will. I will tell them that we need the Rosetta Stone to come back to Egypt for good," Hawass said.
"The British Museum has hundreds of thousands of artefacts in the basement and as exhibits. I am only needing one piece to come back, the Rosetta Stone.
"It is an icon of our Egyptian identity and its homeland should be Egypt."
The Rosetta Stone dates back to 196 BC.
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