This week, Egyptians expressed anger after it was revealed that a 3000-year-old bracelet, once owned by an ancient pharaoh, had been stolen from Cairo’s renowned Egyptian Museum and subsequently melted down for its gold.
Tourism and Antiquities Minister Sherif Fathy, during a televised statement late Saturday, announced that the bracelet was taken on September 9 while museum officials were preparing artifacts for an exhibit destined for Italy.
He blamed “laxity” in implementing procedures at the facility and said that prosecutors were still investigating.
Monica Hanna, a notable Egyptian archaeologist, advocated for halting overseas exhibitions “until better control” measures are in place to ensure artifact security.
Hanna, who is the dean at the Arab Academy for Science, Technology & Maritime Transport, also campaigns for the repatriation of Egyptian artifacts displayed in foreign museums.
Malek Adly, an Egyptian human rights lawyer, described the theft as “an alarm bell” for the government and emphasized the need for enhanced security for both exhibition and storage antiquities.
Amenemope ruled Egypt from Tanis in the Nile Delta during Egypt’s 21st Dynasty.
The Tanis royal necropolis was discovered by the French archaeologist Pierre Montet in 1940, according to the Egyptian Museum.
The necropolis’ collection exhibits about 2,500 ancient artifacts, including golden funerary masks, silver coffins and golden jewels.
The collection was restored in 2021 in cooperation with the Louvre Museum in Paris.
The incident evoked memories of previous cultural losses, like the disappearance of Vincent van Gogh’s “Poppy Flowers” — once valued at $50 million — from another Cairo museum in 2010.
The painting was first stolen in 1977 but was later recovered.
However, since its theft in 2010 it has not been found.
