The Metropolitan Museum opened 150 years ago.. Know the most famous Egyptian pieces recovered

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, one of the most famous and largest international museums, which was opened on this day in 1872 AD, and contains many artifacts dating back to different eras, and among the museum’s exhibits there are pieces dating back to the ancient Egyptian civilization, and Egypt has succeeded before in recovering a number of The pieces that came out illegally and were already displayed in the museum, but were returned to Egypt again, which we will review in the coming lines.

19 artifacts of King Tutankhamun
In 2011, nineteen artifacts dating back to the era of King Tutankhamun were borrowed from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, who had decided to return these artifacts to Egypt after a series of negotiations and discussions held between the Egyptian and American sides, and a memorandum of understanding was signed between The Metropolitan Museum and the Supreme Council of Antiquities on November 10, 2010.

In 2019, the efforts of the Egyptian Ministries of Antiquities and Foreign Affairs succeeded in proving Egypt’s eligibility to recover an ancient gilded sarcophagus that had been purchased by the Metropolitan Museum in the United States of America from an antiquities dealer who was holding an exit permit for the piece issued by Egypt and dating back to 1971.

After the investigations carried out by the Office of the Prosecutor of the City of Manhattan in New York, which lasted for more than 20 months, during which the General Administration of Recovered Antiquities of the Ministry of Antiquities presented, in coordination with the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, all the evidence and evidence that proves beyond a reasonable doubt that the alleged permit for the exodus of the piece in 1971 It was counterfeit, and the Arab Republic of Egypt did not issue a permit for this piece at all (the law before 1983 allowed the issuance of permits for some pieces to go outside Egypt).

Based on the documents sent by the Ministry of Antiquities, the Investigations Office concluded that Egypt was entitled to recover this archaeological sarcophagus, and that the export permit for it was forged, and the Metropolitan Museum was subjected to a forgery process when it was purchased.

In this context, the Director General of the Metropolitan Museum yesterday sent a letter to the Ministry of Antiquities confirming the museum's apology to the ministry, the government and the Egyptian people for the incident, and that the museum had already taken all measures to return the piece to its mother country, Egypt.