Cairo (AFP)
The sarcophagus of priest Nedjemankh, which was stolen in Egypt in 2011, the year of the uprising against President Hosni Mubarak, is back in Cairo where it was unveiled Tuesday.
The imposing golden object made for Nedjemankh, the priest of the ram-headed god Heryshef, was purchased in 2017 by one of the world's most prestigious museums, the Met New York, but an investigation had established that he had was stolen in Egypt in 2011.
The object dating from 150 to 50 BC was presented in a glass box at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Cairo.
"I am happy that we have recovered this piece," the secretary general of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, Mostafa Waziri, told reporters, adding that "restoration and conservation" work would be carried out on the sarcophagus.
Present at the ceremony, the American chargé d'affaires in Cairo, Thomas Goldberger, said he was "very happy" with the return of the object to Egypt and the cooperation with the Egyptian authorities.
After passing through Dubai, Germany and Paris, the sarcophagus of nearly 1.80 m was sold to the Met by a French art dealer, whose identity was not revealed, for 3.5 million (approximately $ 4 million).
A joint investigation by the US, Egyptian, German and French authorities then established that the gold object was stolen in Egypt in 2011, causing the premature interruption in February 2019 of a Met exposure of which it was the main piece .
According to the Manhattan prosecutor, Cyrus Vance, to whom the Met had handed over the sarcophagus, it was among hundreds of objects stolen by the same criminal organization.
Mr. Waziri described as "false" the documents accompanying the sarcophagus when it was acquired by the Met and attesting to its authenticity and the legality of its provenance.
He said that the investigation into the theft of the coin launched seven years ago was continuing.
According to him, the department of repatriation of ancient Egyptian objects has recovered "several thousand objects" in the last two years.
© 2019 AFP