Foreign Affairs, Emigration and Expatriates Minister Badr Abdelatty has recovered 25 Egyptian antiques that had been looted and smuggled abroad.
These repatriated artifacts, which date back to various eras of ancient Egyptian civilization, are distinguished by their great historical and artistic value.
They were recovered through the Egyptian Consulate General in New York.
Abdelatty was keen to participate in the procedures of the Committee for the Recovery of Smuggled Antiquities, formed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
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He emphasized the importance Egypt attaches to the issue of retrieving smuggled Egyptian antiquities and returning them home.
He praised the tireless efforts made by Egyptian embassies and consulates abroad, in cooperation with the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, the Egyptian General Prosecutor's Office, and relevant state agencies, to recover Egyptian artifacts.
The recovered collection includes stone and wooden coffin lids, funerary masks made of pottery and gilded wood, a large alabaster vessel, and a portrait of a woman from the city of Fayum, reflecting the mastery of realistic portraiture during the Greco-Roman era.
The collection also includes various pieces of jewelry made of various metals, a rare gold coin dating back to the reign of Ptolemy I, and small bronze and stone statues depicting aspects of Egyptian belief and art from various historical periods.
The return of the artifacts was the result of a joint effort between the Egyptian Consulate General in New York, the New York City District Attorney's Office, and US security agencies, as well as lengthy negotiations with several individual owners of these artifacts, with support from the Cultural Sector of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
MENA
