What to Know
- The Manhattan DA's office recovered the gilded Coffin of Nedjemankh from the Metropolitan Museum of Art earlier this year
- The museum turned over the coffin after learning it had been looted from Egypt back in 2011
- Investigators say the Met was given fraudulent documents, including a forged 1971 Egyptian export license
Egypt displayed a gilded ancient coffin from the first century B.C. on Tuesday, which the Metropolitan Museum of Art returned last week after U.S. investigators determined it to be a looted antiquity.
The coffin once held the mummy of Nedjemankh, a priest in the Ptolemaic Period some 2,000 years ago. It was put on display at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Cairo.
Antiquities Minister Khaled el-Anany said the repatriation of this "unique, wonderful" artifact shows a "very strong solidarity" between Egypt and the U.S.
The Met bought it from a Paris art dealer in 2017 for about $4 million and made it the centerpiece of an exhibition. The precious artifact was removed in February after proof of its theft was presented.
Egyptian authorities proved the coffin's export license was "a false one" following a request from U.S. authorities, el-Anany said in his address.
U.S. Chargé d'Affaires Thomas Goldberger attended the display ceremony.
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"We are delighted that this beautiful artifact is here in this museum in Egypt where it ought to be," he said.
Mostafa Waziri, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said the surface of the coffin was elaborately decorated with scenes and hieroglyphic texts.
"The name of this coffin's owner is written here 'Nedjemankh' and his title is stated as well 'priest.' Most probably this coffin was discovered in middle Egypt," he said. The exact location would be clarified through further investigations, he added.
The Met has apologized to Egypt. The museum's head Daniel Weiss said it was a fraud victim and unwitting participant in the illegal trade of antiquities.
U.S. investigators determined that the coffin was smuggled from Egypt through the United Arab Emirates, Germany and France. They say the museum was given fraudulent documents, including a forged 1971 Egyptian export license.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. and Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Hassan Shoukry held a repatriation ceremony in New York on Wednesday.
"Returning stolen cultural treasures to their countries of origin is at the core of our mission to stop the trafficking of stolen antiquities," Vance Jr. said.
