Ramses I returns to Egypt
2002-07-08 18:31
Cairo - An American university museum has agreed to return to Egypt a mummy believed to be Pharaoh Ramses I, a senior Egyptian
antiquities official said on Monday.
"A US-Egyptian agreement has been signed to return to Egypt the mummy believed to be Ramses I, 143 years after it left Egypt," Zahi Hawass, secretary-general of the supreme council of antiquities, said.
The mummy was discovered in 1860 and transported with 10 others to Canada's Niagra Falls museum, which subsequently sold it to the
Michael C Carlos Museum at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, Hawass said.
The director of the museum has agreed to return the mummy to
Egypt in June 2003 following an exhibition of Pharaonic antiquities it has set for April.
Hawass said the mummy was believed to be Ramses I, who ruled in the 14th century BC, because of the mummification technique and the style in which the king's arms were crossed on his chest, similar to that of his son Ramses II.
Stone engraved with hieroglyphics
Four pieces of stone engraved with hieroglyphics, taken from the tomb of Ramses I's father Seti I, will also be returned, Hawass said.
On Sunday, Hawass announced the return of the first piece of a
collection of stolen antiquities that featured in a notorious art
theft trial in New York earlier this year.
Hawass said that the painted tomb fragment showing an unnamed
Pharaonic official accompanied by geese, had featured in the case
of New York art dealer Frederick Schultz, who was sentenced to 33
months in prison in June.
In addition to the 4 400-year-old fragment, Egypt has said it wishes to recover the head of a statue of the Pharaoh Amenhotep III, as well as a bronze statue of the falcon-headed deity Horus, and other artifacts currently in New York and Britain. - Sapa-AFP
- SAPA