Cairo Restores 450 Archaeological Pieces from Britain

[Goddess]

Cairo Restores 450 Archaeological Pieces from Britain

By Fathia al-Dakhakhni 1/ 5/ 2009


Egypt has restored 450 Egyptian ancient pieces from Myers Museum of Eaton College. The pieces arrived yesterday morning at Cairo International Airport in two sealed packages. However, Egypt has waived its claim for two wooden tombs in Sheffield Museum.

Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said the restored pieces are not rare.

The pieces include 109 statues, 12 bronze coins, two limestone statues, 21 wooden tombs, in addition to other antiquities.

On the other hand, Al-Masry Al-Youm got documents showing that the Egyptian embassy in London and the Supreme Council of Antiquities sent letters to Sheffield Museum for restoring two wooden tombs dating back to 720-663 BC. After that, Egypt waived its right to the two tombs.

Hawass said: "We have 7,000 caskets like those in Sheffield. I cannot shoulder the cost of restoring unimportant pieces." He pointed out that the cost of filing a lawsuit to restore the Amenhotep statue reached €30,000.

Translated from the Arabic by Eltorjoman International

http://www.almasry-alyoum.com/article2. ... eID=209295

[Horus]

Hawass said: "We have 7,000 caskets like those in Sheffield. I cannot shoulder the cost of restoring unimportant pieces." He pointed out that the cost of filing a lawsuit to restore the Amenhotep statue reached €30,000.

In other words, unless it has some monetary value such as attracting visitors to his new museums, he is not interested!

[PRchick]

Well yes. That's a smart business decision.

[Horus]

I agree and so is the smart business decisions made by other people such as the British Museum to keep the Rosetta stone and the Berlin Museum to keep the bust of Nefertiti and the Louvre to keep the Dendera Zodiac, all based on Mr Howas's sound business logic.

[PRchick]

Isn't the contention that these were stolen from Egypt?

[Horus]

Isn't the contention that these were stolen from Egypt?

I think it is exactly that, a contention, it all depends upon your point of view. If at the time these artefacts were of some real importance and were stolen from say a museum, I may be inclined to agree with him. The Rosetta stone was originally discovered by the French during one of Napoleons escapades, it had been used to build a wall in a fort. It was they who attached importance to it, mainly due to the interest in deciphering hieroglyphics. So it is a bit disingenuous of Mr Hawass to demand something back that would have had no value at all had it not been for other people’s efforts and indeed Zahi would probably not have the job he enjoys today.

The British latter confiscated it from the French as part of the surrender terms at the time, again it was used as a means to assist in the translation of hieroglyphics by Thomas Young and Champollion. So you could well argue that without it being discovered and used by the French and British it would still be buried within a wall somewhere in the desert and the translation of Hieroglyphics may not have happened or taken a great deal of time to achieve. Had that been the case it is highly unlikely that the Egyptians would themselves have done the job as they showed no interest prior to the event of tourism.

If I recall correctly the translation is a decree from Ptolemy V, describing the repealing of various taxes and giving instructions to erect statues in temples. As it appears to be in effect a tax amnesty given to the temple priests, then theoretically there should be more copies at other major sites throughout Egypt. So with his skill at making lots of discoveries totally unaided, I suggest he goes and finds one of them.

The Dendera Zodiac was a gift and basically swapped for a clock that didn't work, it may be seen in the Citadel in Cairo.

The head of Nefertiti was part of a legitimate division of spoils between the German discoverers and the Egyptian authorities at the time. It's a bit late now to complain about being ripped off, I am sure Zahi does not apply the same logic to all the tourists that get ripped off by Egyptians each year.

The bottom line IMO is that these artefacts have done more good for Egypt's economy and the development of Egyptology in general than it ever would had they always remained in Egypt. In addition, by being displayed throughout the Western world they have popularised the subject and created the present day Egyptian tourist industry.

Egypt has more treasures than it can look after or display properly, one only has to look at the way Abu Simbel, Philae Temple and many others would now be at the bottom of a a lake if not for the efforts of UNESCO, indeed many other historic sites are now under water. So if you apply the same criteria of Egypt not being bothered about those particular monuments, what if UNESCO had offered to buy the cliff face, paid good money for it to the Nasser government, had cut it all up into blocks and instead of re-erecting it at Abu Simbel they had put it in the Mojave desert instead, would he now be asking for it back again?