Over 3,000 year-old stolen statue of King Ramses II returns to Egypt
A 3,400-year-old statue of one of Egypt’s most powerful pharaohs, King Ramses II has been returned to the Northern African country after three decades.
The statue which depicts the head of the King was stolen from the Ramses II temple in Abydos, South of Egypt between the 1980s and 90s, Reuters reports.
The artefact was moved to several countries after being noticed during an exhibition in London in 2013 and finally went through Switzerland before being returned.
The statue was returned home recently although Switzerland authorities handed over the statue to the Egyptian embassy in Bern last year.
According to Shaaban Abdel Gawad who heads the Egyptian antiquities repatriation department, the statue is now being housed at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. However, the public does not have access to it till it is restored and put on display.
"This head is part of a group of statues depicting King Ramses II seated alongside several Egyptian deities," Abdel Gawad was quoted as saying.
Ramesses II, commonly known as Ramesses the Great, was an Egyptian pharaoh and the third ruler of the Nineteenth Dynasty.
Meanwhile, other African countries have recently made efforts to retrieve some of their stolen artefacts from colonial powers including Britain, France, Spain, and Portugal among others. These items included gold mouldings, brass, ivory, and wooden materials.
GSW reported that the UK had entered an agreement to loan some of Ghana's stolen artefacts to the West African country.
