Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof pledges to return a 3,500 year old Egyptian sculpture at the Grand Egyptian Museum opening in Giza. Image credit: Cairo Top Tours
Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof made the pledge on Sunday at the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza, which was attended by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
Discovery and Investigation of the Artifact
The stone head, dating from the reign of Pharaoh Thutmose III (1479–1425 BC), resurfaced at The European Fine Art Foundation fair in Maastricht in 2022. Authorities launched an investigation after receiving an anonymous tip that the piece had been illegally exported.
After the Dutch cultural heritage inspectorate had confirmed the artifact was plundered from Egypt, the dealer voluntarily surrendered the sculpture to the authorities.
Prime Minister Schoof termed the decision as a “gesture of respect and cultural responsibility,” adding that it testifies to the commitment of the country to returning heritage to where it belongs.
The Dutch government said it plans to hand the artifact over to the Egyptian ambassador in The Hague by the end of this year.
The sculpture, which depicts a high-ranking official from Thutmose III’s dynasty, is of deep symbolic importance to Egypt. It has not yet been decided whether the government will be displaying it at the new Grand Egyptian Museum or another national institution.
A Landmark Moment for Cultural Repatriation
The return comes as Egypt is celebrating the long-awaited opening of the $1.2 billion Grand Egyptian Museum, housing nearly 100,000 ancient artifacts, among them the full collection from Tutankhamun’s tomb.
First proposed in 1992, construction of the museum had been delayed for years because of the 2011 uprising, but Egyptologists now see its opening, and the return of the sculpture, as an opportunity that will increase Egypt’s demands for restitution of cultural treasures held abroad.
Among the objects scholars point to as potential next targets in Egypt’s ongoing campaign for repatriation is the Rosetta Stone, still on display at the British Museum in London.
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