More coverage of the conclusions of the conference in Egypt on the restitution of cultural property.

From:
Reuters

Egypt urges states to cooperate on artefact return
Wed Apr 7, 2010 5:49pm GMT

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt and other states which say artefacts have been illegally taken abroad should work together and list items they want returned from Western museums, Egypt’s top archaeologist said on Wednesday.

Zahi Hawass, head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, was speaking to representatives from 21 countries, some like Greece and Syria, seeking the return of artefacts and others like the United States which have returned stolen antiquities.
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At the conclusion of the conference in Egypt on the restitution of looted artefacts, Zahi Hawass re-iterated a point that he has made in the past, that Museums that he has the power to make life very difficult for institutions that refuse to co-operate to try & resolve cases involving disputed artefacts.

From:
Bloomberg News

Egypt’s Hawass Sees ‘Miserable Life’ for Museums With Relics
By Daniel Williams

April 8 (Bloomberg) — Egypt’s chief antiquities administrator wrapped up a two-day conference among countries that want valuable relics held abroad returned by threatening to make “life miserable” for museums that keep them.

“We will decide together what to do,” said Zahi Hawass, who heads the Supreme Council of Antiquities, at the end of the Cairo conference that attracted 16 delegates and nine observers from abroad. “We will make life miserable for museums that refuse to repatriate.”
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The recent conference in Egypt, highlights yet again that pressure for the return of cultural artefacts is growing from many parts of the world.

From:
Daily Telegraph

British Museum under pressure to give up leading treasures
by Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent
Published: 7:39PM BST 07 Apr 2010

The British museum is to come under renewed pressure to give up leading treasures as 16 countries plan to sign a declaration that demands the return of artefacts sent overseas generations ago.

The demand, issued in Cairo at the end of a two-day conference, is addressed to every country that holds ancient relics.
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Egypt is holding a conference on stolen & looted antiquities, bringing together representatives from many of the nations that are requesting returns. Hopefully, many other countries can learn from some of Egypt’s recent successes in this field.

From:
BBC News

Page last updated at 01:23 GMT, Wednesday, 7 April 2010 02:23 UK
Egypt hosts meeting on recovery of ‘stolen treasures’

Global culture officials are to meet to discuss how to recover ancient treasures which they say have been stolen and displayed overseas.

Sixteen countries will be represented at the two-day conference in Cairo.
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Zahi Hawass is continuing to campaign for the return of Egypt’s cultural treasures, with a clear cut strategy of why he is doing it & of which specific artefacts he is focusing his efforts on.

From:
Agence France Presse

Zahi Hawass, media-savvy guardian of Egypt’s past
By Christophe de Roquefeuil (AFP) – 15th February 20009

CAIRO — Egypt’s antiquities chief Zahi Hawass, at 62, still bubbles with excitement whenever he announces the latest discovery of a tomb or relic, his eyes lighting up under the brim of his trademark Indiana Jones-style hat.

Aside from his love of the media limelight, Hawass is locked in battle to assert Egypt’s sovereignty over its heritage, even if that means crossing swords with the world’s most prestigious museums.
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Dr. Zahi Hawass is confident that one day the Rosetta Stone will return to Egypt. It is not a question of if, but when.

From:
Asharq Alawsat

The Rosetta Stone Will Return
26/01/2010
By Dr. Zahi Hawass

Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat- With all its history and glory, Egypt owes [a great deal to] the black basalt slab called the Rosetta Stone that unravelled the mysteries of Pharoanic scripture engraved on temples, graves, obelisks and the pyramids. Before the stone was discovered, these writings were merely signs and symbols.

The story of the puzzling stone began when part of the French [military] expedition to Egypt arrived in the Mediterranean city of Rosetta, where the water of the River Nile meets the Mediterranean Sea. The soldiers admired the city and its fresh air, and were fascinated by its residents, their handicrafts, their small fishing boats and the beautiful houses. Engineers then made changes to the Citadel of Qaitbay in Rosetta before they surrounded it with red brick walls to act as a fort and protect the city’s entrance against a potential English invasion.
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Egypt is continuing their efforts to secure the return of the Nefertiti bust from Germany with a planned formal request.

From:
Independent Online (Zaire)

Cairo ready to demand the return of Nefertiti
December 21 2009 at 02:59AM
By Marwa Awad

Cairo – Egypt will formally ask Germany to return a bust of Queen Nefertiti after a Berlin museum official presented papers showing the 3 400-year-old treasure was taken unethically, Egypt’s antiquities chief said on Sunday.

Zahi Hawass said in a statement that documents presented by the head of Berlin’s Neues Museum confirmed that Ludwig Borchardt, who found the bust, tried to pass it off as a less significant find to secure it for Berlin.
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The British Museum may want to hang onto the Rosetta Stone, but many people feel that now is the time to return it to Egypt.

From:
The Independent

Letters: The Rosetta Stone
It’s time to gracefully relinquish the Rosetta Stone
Saturday, 12 December 2009

The Rosetta Stone and Elgin Marbles are priceless, culturally significant antiquities brought to Britain under arrangements that were perfectly legal at the time, and so Egypt and Greece have no claim that could succeed in any court (The Big Question, 9 December).

In the past, that has been considered sufficient justification by the British Museum for it to reject any requests for their return. When you add the facts that Egyptian museums have been less secure, and that had the marbles remained in position on the Parthenon they would have decomposed in the atmospheric pollution so as no longer to be recognisable, then most rational people would have supported that position.
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If the British Museum did relinquish ownership of the Rosetta Stone, some parties claim that there are still reasons why it would not necessarily return to Egypt as other countries also potentially have claims of ownership on the artefact.

From:
The Times Blogs

December 11, 2009
Should the Rosetta Stone go back….where?

What is the best selling post-card in the British Museum?

The last time I inquired — admittedly more than a decade ago, but was told that it was the permanent “number one” — it was a rather dreary image of the Rosetta Stone. That outsold its major rivals by several thousand. If you are interested, the main post-card rivals were: various views of the Museum itself, the (also Egyptian) bronze “Gayer Egypt Anderson” cat (displayed on the card plus or minus a real live tabby cat) and an original drawing of Beatrix Potter’s Flopsy Bunnies.
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Zahi Hawass is going to have a meeting twith the director of Berlin’s Neues Museum to discuss the future of the Nefertiti Bust. Whilst no wanting to pre-empt whatever is going to be discussed, it seems to me to be a positive step, in that any meeting is better then the requests being completely ignored with no opportunity for further discussion.

From:
Reuters

Egypt to hold talks over Nefertiti bust
Thu Dec 3, 2009 6:19am GMT
By Marwa Awad

CAIRO, Dec 2 (Reuters Life!) – Egypt, in a diplomatic tug-of-war with Germany over the bust of Queen Nefertiti, will hold talks this month to try to recover the 3,400-year-old pharaonic treasure Egypt says was smuggled out of the country.

Egyptian antiquities chief Zahi Hawass told Reuters he will meet the director of the Egyptian Papyrus Collection at Berlin’s Neues Museum, where the bust is on display, on December 20 to resolve the row over Nefertiti, the mother-in-law of boy king Tutankhamun.
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Despite requests to provide any available evidence of the legitimacy of Nefertiti’s journey from Egypt to Berlin by Zahi Hawass, the newly re-opened Neues Museum hasn’t been forthcoming.

From:
Spiegel

10/20/2009
Berlin’s Nefertiti Trouble
Egyptian Official Calls Museum Behavior ‘Suspicious’

She’s been dead thousands of years but she’s still causing trouble. The bust of Queen Nefertiti has taken pride of place in Berlin’s New Museum, re-opened this weekend after 70 years. Now Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, says Berlin should give it back.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Do you really want to take Nefertiti away from her privileged new position in the newly re-opened New Museum in Berlin and bring her back to Cairo?
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Following their success in persuading the Louvre to return disputed artefacts, Egypt has once again set its sights on other artefacts of questionable provenance held in museums around the world.

From:
Agence France Presse

Egypt battling for more relics after Louvre success
By Ines Bel Aiba (AFP) – 2 days ago

CAIRO — Many relics from ancient Egypt remain in foreign museums and Cairo is struggling to persuade other countries to send them back, like France which agreed to return a set of 3,000-year-old wall painting fragments.

“It is the Egyptian people’s right to see works of art from their country’s civilisation,” said Abdel Halim Nureddin, a former head of Egypt’s antiquities authority.
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