The Egyptian Embassy in Switzerland has repatriated an ancient stele (upright stone slab bearing a commemorative inscription,) which was stolen from a temple 30 years ago, the antiquities ministry said in a Thursday statement.
The artifact was stolen in 1990 from an ancient Egyptian temple located in Behbeit El Hagar archaeological site, 8 kilometers west of Egypt’s Delta governorate of Mansoura. The Swiss authorities handed over the artifact to the Egyptian embassy in Berne on Thursday.
The black granite stele measures 1.06 X 0.96 meters and shows Goddess Isis standing holding the Ankh, the so called Key of Life. It dates back to the 30th Dynasty (around 350 B.C.)
“During an inventory control in the Geneva free economic zone at the end of 2014, the federal customs identified… a granite engraving of unknown origin and alerted Geneva police, who opened a criminal case,” Geneva’s public prosecutor was quoted by AFP on Monday.
Investigators compared photographs taken by French archeologist Christine Favard Meeks at the site in the 1970s to more recent ones which “established without any doubt that the granite engraving was stolen from” Behbeit El Hagar.
Egypt’s political turmoil has led to a security lapse at archaeological sites and storerooms and museums nationwide, leaving Egypt’s treasures vulnerable to looting. The Egyptian museum and Malawi museum are among the sites that have been affected.
During the past four years, Egypt has recovered over 1,600 artifacts and is currently working on other cases in many European countries, Ministry of Antiquities Museums Sector former head Ahmed Sharaf previously told The Cairo Post.
“It is impossible to provide an accurate number of the artifacts that have been stolen since the January 25 Revolution,” he added.
