Egypt recovers 16 stolen artifacts
The Mughn limestone stele dates from 690 to 650 BC.
AFP
The pieces were stolen from various archaeological sites in Egypt.
AFP
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The New York judiciary returned to Egypt, the day before yesterday, 16 stolen pieces of art, five of which were confiscated in the spring from the prestigious Metropolitan Museum of Art, as part of an investigation by the French authorities into the smuggling of antiquities against the former director of the Louvre Museum in Paris.
For two years, the judiciary in the US state of New York has been implementing a wide campaign to recover stolen antiquities from other countries that are present today in the city's museums and galleries, and in this context, at least 700 pieces were returned in the years 2020 and 2021 to 14 countries, including Cambodia, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Iraq, Greece and Italy.
The Attorney General of the State of New York for Manhattan Affairs, Alvin Bragg, announced, during a ceremony held, the day before yesterday, in the presence of the Egyptian Consul General, the return of 16 artifacts worth "more than four million dollars" to the Egyptian people.
The attorney general clarified that nine of the items returned to Egypt were in the possession of Michael Steinhart, one of the world's leading collectors of antiques, who had obtained them through Israeli smugglers.
The court obligated the octogenarian New Yorker in 2021 to return 180 artifacts that were stolen and sold in recent decades, with a total value of about $70 million.
This settlement spared him prosecution, but he was banned for life from acquiring antiquities from the legal market.
Among the returned pieces were also five pieces confiscated from the Metropolitan Museum last May, worth $3.1 million, as part of an investigation conducted between New York and Paris, as a result of which accusations were brought in France against the former director of the Louvre, Jean-Luc Martinez.
Prague explained that "the five pieces from the Deep-Simonian smuggling network were stolen from archaeological sites in Egypt, and smuggled from Germany or the Netherlands to France and sold to the Metropolitan Museum by the Paris company (Pierre Bergeret & Partners)."
"The exchange of information with investigators around the world has led to the indictment or arrest of nine people in France, including the former director of the Louvre, Jean-Luc Martinez," the Public Prosecutor's Office in Manhattan said.
The New York judiciary confirmed that among the five pieces was a limestone obelisk of a singer dating back to between 690 and 650 BC, which was stolen from the Nile Delta during the Egyptian revolution in 2011, and was sold at an auction in Paris held by the company “Pierre Bergeret & Partners.”
The company is believed to have provided a forged certificate of origin and sold the obelisk to the Metropolitan in 2015.
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Some of the items returned to Egypt were in the possession of Michael Steinhart, one of the world's leading collectors of antiques.
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