Egypt's Foreign Ministry Hands Over Recovered Artifacts from France to Tourism Ministry

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs handed a group of recovered Egyptian antiquities to the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. These items, dating to the Late Period, were recently returned from France.

The recovered objects include a limestone votive coffin, a limestone statue of a man, a wooden statue of the god Anubis in jackal form, two detached wooden hands from colored coffins, three rare royal-sealed papyrus scrolls, and a cylindrical container bearing hieroglyphic inscriptions.

The Egyptian Embassy in Paris retrieved the pieces in cooperation with French authorities, after foiling an attempt to sell them illegally. Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty attended the handover ceremony held at the embassy in February.

Egypt also joined the case as a civil plaintiff in French court proceedings, which ended with the conviction of the traffickers and a compensation ruling in Egypt's favor worth €23,000.

This marks the third time in May that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has returned stolen artifacts to the Tourism Ministry. Earlier this month, 25 rare pieces were retrieved from the U.S. via the New York consulate, followed by 20 items recovered from Australia through Egyptian missions in Canberra and Sydney.