IN a significant victory for Egyptian heritage, Egypt welcomed back a 3,400-year-old statue depicting the head of King Ramses II after it was stolen and smuggled out of the country over three decades ago, announced the country’s antiquities ministry on Sunday.
The historic statue, stolen from the Ramses II temple in the ancient city of Abydos in Southern Egypt, has now found its way back to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo for restoration, according to a statement from the ministry.
Shaaban Abdel Gawad, who leads Egypt’s antiquities repatriation department, revealed that the artefact was estimated to have been stolen in the late 1980s or early 1990s. Egyptian authorities first detected the artefact when it was put up for sale at an exhibition in London back in 2013, eventually making its way through several countries before reaching Switzerland, as reported by the antiquities ministry.
‘This head is part of a group of statues depicting King Ramses II seated alongside a number of Egyptian deities,’ explained Abdel Gawad.
Ramses II, also known as Ramses the Great, was one of ancient Egypt’s most influential pharaohs, ruling from 1279 to 1213 B.C.
Egypt collaborated closely with Swiss authorities to affirm its rightful ownership of the statue. After Switzerland officially handed over the artefact to the Egyptian embassy in Bern last year, it was only recently that Egypt successfully brought the cherished piece of its heritage back home.
The return of this valuable artefact marks a significant milestone in Egypt’s ongoing efforts to repatriate stolen antiquities and safeguard its rich cultural legacy.