Well- know archaeologist Dr. Zahi Hawass said on Monday that Egypt has the right to demand the return of the statue of King Tutankhamun ahead of Christie's sale of the bust in an auction.
" This statue was stolen from Karnak Temple in Luxor, and Christie's has no proof of its possession of the bust," Hawass mentioned.
" Tutankhamun bust was smuggled out, and Christie's would not be able to prove the opposite," the Egyptologist added.
It is worth mentioning that the 3,000-year-bust of the Egyptian most famous king would be bought worth at least £4 million in Christie’s, London on July 4.
The Antiquities Ministry said it is investigating a planned sale of a Tutankhamun bust at Christie’s auction house in London on July 4 in preparation for taking the required legal measures in coordination with the Foreign Ministry.
In a press statement on Wednesday, June 6, Shaaban Abdel-Gawad, the general supervisor of the ministry’s department of recovered antiquities noted that the ministry would address the auction house about the ancient piece to check the validity of its ownership papers.
Abdel-Gawad stressed that the bust does not belong to any of the collection of relics kept at the ministry’s museums or warehouses, saying his department follows up all international auction salerooms to prevent the sale of any Egyptian antiquities.
If any tangible proof is produced that any piece of antiquities was smuggled, the ministry would take all legal measures with the Interpol in coordination with the Foreign Ministry to restore it, he clarified.
Contributed by : Mohamed Helba
http://see.news/antiquities-ministry-investigates-planned-sale-of-tutankhamun-bust-in-london/
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