Egypt recovers pharaonic artefacts looted in uprising



CAIRO- Egypt has recovered 10 pharaonic artefacts, including a gilded wooden Tutankhamun statue, looted during the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak, the antiquities ministry said Tuesday.
The pieces were taken from the famed Egyptian Museum near Cairo's Tahrir Square on January 28, 2011, when protesters calling for Mubarak's overthrow drove his feared security forces from the streets.



Along with the Tutankhamun statue, which will be restored by Egyptian experts, two statues of Queen Nefertiti's children were also recovered, according to antiquities minister Mohamed Ibrahim.
Authorities also recovered a stone likeness of Tutankhamun as a young boy that had been broken off of a larger statue showing him in the arms of a goddess.
One missing artefact was found in Belgium and eight others in the United States, state news agency MENA quoted the ministry as saying.
A total of 54 artefacts went missing from the museum when looters broke in during the uprising, mainly treasures from the era of pharaohs Tutankhamun and Akhenaton. Thirty-five of the pieces have since been recovered.
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Wednesday, April 30th 2014
AFP
           


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