Egypt is seeking to cancel a UK auction the head and hands of a mummy identified, in his case it is confirmed that the parts of the corpse leave the country illegally The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities reported today.
“In case it is confirmed that the two pieces were sold illegally, all the necessary measures will be taken to stop the sale process and coordinate with the competent authorities in Egypt, as well as with the English authorities,” said the Secretary General of the Council. Antiquities Supreme Court, Mustafa Waziri, in a statement.
The note emphasizes that the General Directorate of Antiquities Recovered managed to detect one of the auctions held at Swan Fine Arts in the city of Tetsworth, located in the southeast of the United Kingdom, which presented two Egyptian artifacts among its exhibits.
In addition, he clarified that the Ministry of Antiquities together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs “He took all the necessary measures to try to review the documents of the two pieces” and verify the way they left Egypt.
This is not the first time since in 2019, the Egyptian government announced that it will take a series of measures, including a civil lawsuit, after the British auction house Christie’s sold for 4.7 million pounds sterling (5.6 million dollars, 5.1 million). euros) a bust of pharaoh Tutankhamen that the authorities suspect that he may have left Egypt illegally.
,Egypt tries to prevent the smuggling of its antiquities and historical heritage from the country, and goes to great diplomatic efforts to recover the stolen items, which are found in private collections around the world, gambling houses and even museums.
According to the 1970 Convention on measures to be taken to prohibit and prevent the import, export and illegal transfer of cultural property. Unesco any item purchased and taken out of a country without a legal export document after this date will be considered illegal.
That is, any piece that left Egypt after 1970 without a export certificate it is assumed by default to be stolen.
