Cairo to Host Conference on Stolen Antiquities
Jan 7th, 2010 | By Bikya Masr Staff | Category: Culture, Egypt, Egyptology, NewsCairo: The Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities announced on Wednesday that 30 countries that possess ancient Egyptian monuments and artifacts will participate in a conference next April in Cairo to discuss the restoration and recovery of the artifacts, especially those removed after the signing of a UNESCO agreement in the 1970s.
The secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Dr. Zahi Hawass, Â said, “The conference, organized by Egypt, aims at discussing the conditions returning antiquities stolen after the signing of the UNESCO agreement.”
As for the effects looted by colonial powers in the 17th and 18th centuries, Hawass said, “This is a big issue that cannot be dealt with now, and while we think it will be discussed in this conference, it won’t be the main focus.”
Egyptian archaeologists believe that there are many ancient Egyptian artifacts that were looted over the centuries, including the planetarium of the Dandara Temple, various statues and obelisks currently decorating European capitals. In addition, they believe other famous items like the bust of Nefertiti and the Rosetta Stone, were acuired through the use of forged.
The late Greek Culture Minister Melina Mercouri raised this issue in the 1980s with the idea of restoring Greek antiquities, looted by Britain during its occupation, and launched a campaign to recover these relics.
Hawass added that the aim of this conference was, “consultation among these countries to find specific recommendations for the restoration artefacts, including the preparation of a list of all antiquities that these states want to recover from museums around the world.”
The conference will also discuss, ” taking collective action at the international level to support the efforts to retrieve looted antiquities and review international legislation concerning the rights of states to recover their monuments.”
Hawass added that Egypt had a long way to go but has significant experience with the recovery of its stolen monuments. Egypt will put its experience use when dealing with representatives of the participating countries to recover the stolen monuments.
States participating in the conference, in addition to Egypt, will be Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen, Iraq, China, India, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand, Korea, Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Russia, Spain, Turkey, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Peru.
**reporting by Mohamed Abdel Salam
BM
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the greek minister did that shit in the 1980s. why do we have to be 20 yrs behind ? i read that the cairo underground metro was a project started in the 1980s. what the hell happened? just recently officials decided that, oh, maybe we should finish the other 70% of the underground now that we’ve been putting the money in our pockets for 20 yrs!!!! way to go Egypt. go on, get your antiquities back that you’ve neglected for all these yrs. glad you finally remembered..
Many cities build such large projects for many years… Everywhere, including American and Europe. It is because of the complexity of those projects and because of the huge amounts of money they require.
Antiques conference is a great project.
Best, Andy, http://www.myarabicstories.com
Antiques conference is a great project. Artifacts should come back in an orderly manner.
@F.Hamm With the use of your vulgar language, I doubt you’ll efficiently convey your point.
There’s a great saying “better than late than never” and although 2 decades is waste of highly valuable time, it’s slowly but surely being redeemed through diplomatic talks. The fact of the matter is, although these talks are of great importance and will ulitmately lead to the restoration of minor Egyptian artifacts. Ancient Egyptian icons such as the Rosetta stone and Nefertiti will never be returned as a result of Egypt’s weak global power. Egypt must therefore take further but necessary steps in order to ensure the return of highly prized artifacts that define the great ancient Egyptian empire; all of which should remain in their country of birth – Egypt.
How about renting them for a fee, and the money goes to the development of state of the art museum and to train the Antiquity department employees of how to handle and appreciate such treasures.
All treausures from other countries should go back to their home. That includes all treasures from all nations.
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Its very evident what Mr. Hawas and other elitist fascist archaeologists are trying to do.
They’re so blatant that they don’t even try to hide it any longer!
They are building the mechanism that will lead to a devastating slippery slope first by Robb private property own and by private individuals then by trying to block historical institutions from around the world from owning, showcasing and studying our collective human history.
Egypt as a nation and a people has lost the right of exclusive ownership LONG ago and I will
elaborate on that.
Mr. Hawas, in his words, want ALL artifact of Egyptian descent back to the mother land., including the Rosetta stone!!!
His heritage was destroyed by his own people millennia before and if anyone would wish to disagree
please feel free to study the history books.
The 101 of any human culture is to conquer over other cultures that preceded them, destroy their distinctive
art and cultural influence, take over their places of worship and build their own on top of them.
It is a fact, it is human nature it is the one constant axiom in history the Romans did it to the Greeks,
The Coptics to the Egyptians, the Mohamadians to the Christians on and on and on…
ALL those nations in the conference asking for their artifacts back have in the last 50 years experiences a major civil war and crisis, invasions, starvation, occupation or land grabs, human rights violations,
ethnic cleansing, and terrorism both against their statehood and civilians I’m not kidding
everyone of them, really.
Nothing against them at all, I’m sure they were victims no drought either from their own totalitarian regimes
or from external forces, but bottom line they were in no position to preserve their own (our) heritage and I don’t care if they get offended its just fact, researchable fact.
I’m not advocating to dismantling their historical sites crating it and building mock up sites of it in Europe,
and America or the ugly and destructive looting by their poor locals, but I’m questioning their blind fervor into getting “everything that is ours back from the greedy hands of the imperialistic west…”
In the west Mr. Hawas, its protected more then Barakat’s presidential estates by avid cultural advocates that would
celebrate the cultural wealth of our communal human family.
If GOD forbid a character like Osama Bin Laden who considers past civilizations an insult to his own religion
that should be destroyed or a political regime who is trying to cement a political ideology by defacing the past of an ethnic minority (and I’m not going to name names) by bulldozing their sacred burial sites or ancient settlements or ethnic cleansing sites,
at lease not all will be lost if traces of that culture resided somewhere else on earth.
Imagine that the Iraq government after its independence in the 60′s was able to secure all Mesopotamian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Sumerian and Islamic texts and artifacts scattered in private and public collections all across the world and housed it in is national museum of Bagdad, well
you get the picture.
Fascist archaeologists Mr. Hawas need to be scientists not Indiana Jones wannabes Gunho nationalists and should have some understanding in basic statistics and probability that only history could teach you:
Disperse those antiquities in museums across the world that will celebrate your culture and help you research it because its their culture as much as its your own and ‘Never put your eggs in on basket’ because you’ll never know when your people are going to elect another Abdel Nasser or a Saddam Hussein and the rest is HISTORY…