Story Highlights
- Egypt welcomes home a 3,400-year-old statue of King Ramses II
- The statue was stolen and smuggled out of the country over three decades ago
- The artefact is now in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo for restoration
Background
The 3,400-year-old statue depicting the head of King Ramses II has been returned to Egypt after being stolen and smuggled out of the country more than three decades ago. The statue was originally part of the Ramses II temple in the ancient city of Abydos in Southern Egypt.
Recovery Process
Egyptian authorities identified the artefact when it was put up for sale at an exhibition in London in 2013. The statue then traveled through several countries before ending up in Switzerland. The head is part of a series of statues showing King Ramses II seated with Egyptian deities.
King Ramses II
King Ramses II, also known as Ramses the Great, was a prominent pharaoh of ancient Egypt, ruling from 1279 to 1213 B.C. He is considered one of Egypt’s most powerful pharaohs from the Nineteenth Dynasty.
Repatriation
After collaborating with Swiss authorities to confirm its rightful ownership, Switzerland returned the statue to the Egyptian embassy in Bern. Recently, Egypt successfully brought the artefact back home to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo for restoration.
