By: Ali Abu Dashish, Yassmine ElSayed
CAIRO, Feb. 22 (SEE) - The Egyptian Embassy in Canberra, Australia, received the fourth and last part of the plaque stone of "Szen Nefertem", which was illegally stolen from Egypt.
Shaaban Abdel Gawad, general supervisor of the General Department of Antiquities recovered, stated that this part of the painting will be added to previous 3 parts which Egypt was able to regain from Switzerland in 2017.
He noted that this fourth part was bought by Macquarie museum in 1995. When its manager Martin Bomms learned that piece was stolen and smuggled from Egypt illegally, he announced immediately his willing to return it back to Egypt. He, personally, handed it over at the Egyptian embassy; thanks to efforts by Ministries of Antiquities and Foreign Affairs to track the piece and restore it.
On other hand, Abdel Gawad explained that the four parts of the painting had been found by the mission of the University of Rome during some excavation works in Al-Assasif area, to the west of Luxor, between 1976 and 1988.
The loss of the painting was discovered during an inventory work in Luxor in 1995.He concluded by saying that the whole painting is due to undergo a restoration process to piece together all of its four parts, something which was really challenging for the Egyptian authorities.