Tag: Theft

Missing statue of Pharaoh Akhenaten returned to Cairo Museum

State of statue of Akhenaten after its return to the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. Photo by Ahmed Amin Egypt’s Minister of Antiquities Affairs, Dr Zahi Hawass, announced today that the missing limestone statue of King Akhenaten, the likely father of Tutankhamun, has been returned to the Egyptian Museum, Cairo.

To date, four objects from the preliminary list of missing artefacts have been found; the Heart Scarab of Yuya, a shabti of Yuya, the statue of the goddess Menkaret carrying Tutankhamun, and now the statue of Akhenaten as an offering bearer.

Statue of Akhenaten returned

The statue of pharaoh Akhenaten is one of the unique statues from the Amarna Period on display at the Egyptian Museum. It is ~~seven~~ forty-three centimeters high and depicts the king standing, wearing a blue crown, and holding an offering table in his hands.

The statue is composed of limestone, with the exception of the calcite, or Egyptian Alabaster, base.

In a statement to the press, Dr. Hawass says that a sixteen-year-old male, one of the protestors at Tahrir Square, found the statue of Akhenaten beside a rubbish bin.

He brought the statue to his home and when his mother saw it she called her brother, Dr. Sabry Abdel Rahman, a professor at AUC. Dr. Rahman, in turn, called the Ministry of State for Antiquities Affairs to hand the statue over.

Last night, at the Antiquities and Tourism Police station at Cairo Opera House, an archaeological committee headed by Dr. Youssef Khalifa, head of a committee appointed by the Minister, accepted the returned statue of Akhenaten. The committee approved the authenticity of the statue and confirmed that it is in fact the statue of Akhenaten that was missing. The statue was returned to Dr. Khalifa intact, except for the offering table that was found separately inside the Egyptian Museum (photo showing the statue before the break-in).

Dr. Tarek El-Awady, Director General of the Egyptian Museum, said that both pieces of the statue are now in the conservation lab and would be subject to restoration before being returned to its permanent case in the Amarna Gallery.

Restorator working on the statue of Tutankhamun standing on a panther. Photo by Stephanie Sakoutis

Treasures missing from the Cairo Museum

From the preliminary list of missing objects released; four objects this includes the limestone statue of ‘heretic pharaoh’ Akhenaten as an offering bearer have been.

The missing Heart Scarab of Yuya was recovered on the west side of the Egyptian Museum’s gardens, as well as some wooden fragments belonging to the damaged New Kingdom coffin.

One of the eleven missing shabtis of Yuyawas found inside the museum, underneath a showcase, and fragments belonging to the statue of Tutankhamun being carried by the goddess Menkaret have been found as well. All the located fragments belong to the figure of Menkaret. The small figure of the boy king is still missing.

Other objects not yet retrieved are the torso and upper limbs of a gilded wood statue depicting King Tut harpooning, a statue of Nefertiti making offerings, a sandstone head of an Amarna princess, a stone statuette of an Amarna scribe and ten wooden shabtis from Yuya.

In the mean while, restoration works on the items damaged at the Cairo Museum break-inthe statue of King Tut standing on a panther, and the gilded cartonnage mummy bands of Thuya, amongst othersare ongoing.

Further break-ins and looting at Saqqara and Abusir

In a second statement to the press, Dr Hawass announced that several sites have been vandalized. Today, Dr. Sabry Abdel Aziz, head of the Pharaonic Sector of the Ministry of Statefor Antiquities Affairs, reported to the Minister that the tomb of Hetep-Ka, in Saqqara, was brokeninto, and the false door was stolen along with objects stored in the tomb.

In Abusir, a portion of the false door was stolen from the tomb of Re-Hotep. In addition, many magazines also suffered break-ins: magazines in Saqqara, including the one near the pyramid of Teti, and the magazine of Cairo University all had their seals broken.

The Egyptian Military caught, and dismissed, thieves attempting to loot the sites of Tell el Basta; the military also caught criminals trying to loot a tomb in Lischt. There have also been many reports of attacks on archaeological lands through the building of houses and illegal digging.

Egypt tourist sites set to reopen

Despite these troubles, in a bid to see tourists return to Egypt, it was announcedthat all of thePharaonic, Coptic, Islamic, and modern sites would reopen to the public on Sunday, 20 February2011.

King Tut treasures missing after Cairo Museum break-in

Tutankhamun being carried by a goddess, one of the statues missing from the Cairo Museum. Photo Griffith Institute An inventory check at the Cairo Museum, Egypt – two weeks after the protests at the capital lead to a break-in at the national museum – shows that not all of ancient Egyptian treasures are accounted for.

Amongst the missing antiquities – ranging from little shabtis to larger stone statues – are objects that were discovered in King Tuts tomb.

Dr. Zahi Hawass, Egypts Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs, announced today that the staff of the database department at the Egyptian Museum, Cairo have given him their report on the inventory of objects at the museum following the January break in.

Sadly, he said, they have discovered objects are missing from the museum.

Statue of Akhenaten holding an offering table. Photo by Ken Garrett Objects that were likely taken during the break-in, are a gilded wood statue of the 18th Dynasty King Tutankhamun being carried by a goddess; and one of two ritual figurines showing Tutankhamun harpooning a hippo(the damage the statue has sustained can be seen in the image in ‘Egypt Protests Sees Cairo Museum Looted as Artefacts and Mummies are Damaged‘).

From the latter, only the torso and upper limbs of the Pharaoh are missing.

Also stolen from the museum are a limestone statue of Akhenaten holding an offering table, and a statue of Nefertiti making offerings.

Further objects that were recoreded to be lost are a sandstone head of an Amarna princess; a stone statuette of a scribe from Amarna; eleven wooden shabti statuettes of Yuya; and a Heart Scarab of Yuya.

Update Feb 16 2011:Some of these objects have been found and have been returned to the Cairo museum. These are the statue of Akhenaten, one of Yuya’s shabtis, her Heart Scarab and parts of the statue of King Tut being carried by the goddess Menkaret.

Hawass asserted that an investigation has begun to search for the people who have taken these objects, and the police and army plan to follow up with the criminals already in custody.

Click To Watch Video

Tutankhamun’s Burial Treasures: The Ritual Figures

Dr Janice Kamrin continues her tour of the Egyptian Museum, Cairo with a look at the ritual figures found in the Tomb of King Tutankhamun (KV62).

CLICK TO WATCH

Other Tutankhamun objects – such as the statue of the Pharoah standing on a black panter – damaged during the looting, are amongst seventy artefacts that will be restored.

In another terrible turn of events, on the night of 11 February, 2011 a magazine in Dahshur – called De Morgans – was broken into.

This magazine contains large blocks, as well as small artifacts.

The statement does not say if any objects were taken from the De Morgan’s magazine.

Turkey a Base for Antiquities Smugglers? Shocking Numbers on Illegal Trade

While Turkey has managed to reclaim some major historical artifacts smuggled from Turkey to the US and the UK, it is still unable to implement effective measures against the smuggling of new ones. According to the “Cultural and Natural Assets Smuggling Report” prepared by the Culture and Tourism Ministry based on figures provided by the KOM – the Anti-smuggling and Organized Crime Bureau of the police department – Turkey sees higher statistics related to the smuggling of historical artefacts every year; in 2008, when authorities seized 42,073 historical artefacts and detained 4,077 suspects in 1,576 operations. In 2003 security authorities seized 3,255 historical artefacts that smugglers were attempting to take abroad. With a steady rise over years, this figure rose to 17,936 in 2007. As only the amount of seized items can be measured, there is no reliable, if any, information about the number of historical and cultural artefacts illegally taken outside the country.

Of course the smuggling of historical artefacts happens most often in conflict zones – like Iraq and Afghanistan – where the ongoing wars allow smugglers to operate freely. But Turkey is surely not a conflict zone? That is true, but still the majority of historical artefacts smuggled out of these conflict zones are shipped to Western countries via Turkey, to eventually end up in collections in the US, the UK, Switzerland and Japan. Antique coins make this trip most often; small and thus relatively easy to take abroad without detection – you can even smuggle one out in your wallet – they are the smuggler’s ‘favourite’ objects.

To counteract the increasing cases of smuggling of historical artefacts, security authorities asked for measures to be taken. There should be better security in museums to prevent theft, a sufficient and clear inventory of historical artifacts in the country should be composed and a bill to limit and inspect the use and sale of metal detectors should be passed. The Culture Ministry is likely to convey this proposal to the government in the coming days.

Probably the most significant item that was taken outside of Turkey is the Bergama Zeus-Athena Altar; however, this altar cannot be reclaimed as it was sold by an order from the Ottoman sultan of the time (sounds familiar?) at a very low price to Germany. The South Agora Portal of Miletos, too, had been taken out of the country in the same manner.

But for other artefacts, there’s still hope for return; there does exist a minor list of ‘artefacts abroad’ and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism has already spent $17 million on reclaiming these artifacts and continius its efforts to repatriate more. According to todayszaman.com these artefacts were illegally taken out of Turkey and were – or were not yet – returned:

Germany – The Aphrodisias Old Fisherman Statue, the mihrab (niche) of Konya’s Beyhekim Mosque, the Hac Bayram Veli tomb and Troy artifacts. (Returned: Boazky tablets and Sphinxes, an Antiochos head fragment, artifacts from the Henkel collection, a terracotta statue, a marble bas-relief tablet and artifacts seized in Bremen and Tutlingen were returned to Turkey.)
United Kingdom – (Returned: The Ottoman tombac, the pulpit door stolen from zmir’s Birgi Aydnolu Mehmet Bey Mosque, artifacts from a sunken ship in the English Channel, artifacts seized at Heathrow Airport and a bronze Dionysus statue were returned to Turkey.)
Russia – Troy artifacts.
Austria – The artifacts seized at the Suben border crossing and triple Hekate statue still have not been returned. (Returned: The marble head of a woman was able to be reclaimed.)
The US – The Heracles statue, the Kumluca artifacts. (Returned: A 93-piece collection of Ottoman apparel, a seaman’s lantern, the Meleager head from the historical site of Aphrodisias, a lead seal, Atatrk’s silver cigarette case, a Quran stolen from the Nuruosmaniye Library and 1,676 Elmali coins were returned to Turkey.)
Denmark – (Returned: The Sphinx figure from the Diyarbakr Museum, the sarcophagus (sanduka) from the Akehir Seydi Mahmut Hayrani tomb, the Cizre Ulu Mosque doorknob, several Quran pages from the Nuruosmaniye Library and the screens of the portal of Konya’s Beyehir Erefolu Mosque were returned to Turkey.)
Italy – The process of the reclamation of an ancient inscription tablet seized by the Italian Interpol is under way. (Returned: a bronze vase was returned.)
Switzerland – (Returned: The Elmal coins, the statue of a woman stolen from the courtyard of the zmir Museum Directorate and some artefacts from the Roman era seized in Zrich were returned to Turkey.)
France – Many Lydian artefacts are still in this country.