In a significant cultural recovery effort, Egypt has reclaimed 25 antiquities smuggled out of the country, marking one of its most substantial repatriation operations in recent years.
The artefacts, which span various eras of ancient Egyptian civilization, arrived in Cairo on Monday and were received by Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty. The return was the result of a coordinated initiative involving Egypt’s consulate in New York, the U.S. District Attorney’s Office, law enforcement agencies, and private collectors.
A joint committee from Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities supervised the handover, which Abdelatty personally attended.
The recovered items include stone and wooden sarcophagus lids, gilded and ceramic funerary masks, a Greco-Roman Fayoum portrait known for its lifelike detail, a large alabaster vessel, ancient jewelry, a rare gold coin from the reign of Ptolemy I, and small bronze and stone statues representing religious and artistic figures.
Egypt’s cultural institutions, public prosecution, and national agencies played a key role in collaboration with U.S. authorities to secure the artefacts’ return.