EGYPT-SEKHEMKA STATUE Egypt launches campaign to stop sale of pharaonic statue in Britain
Record ID:
142880
EGYPT-SEKHEMKA STATUE Egypt launches campaign to stop sale of pharaonic statue in Britain
- Title: EGYPT-SEKHEMKA STATUE Egypt launches campaign to stop sale of pharaonic statue in Britain
- Date: 23rd August 2015
- Summary: GIZA, EGYPT (FILE) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PYRAMIDS AND SPHYNX OF GIZA
- Embargoed: 7th September 2015 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Egypt
- Country: Egypt
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVAE1H7YMMUYWX9CT7H6FQNALAUU
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Egypt's antiquities minister has called for $25 million to be raised to buy back a 4,500-year-old ancient Egyptian statue, which was sold at an auction in Britain last year to an anonymous overseas buyer.
The 30-inch painted limestone statue dates from the 24th century B.C. and and depicts court official Sekhemka.
It was sold in July 2014 at a private auction in London for 15.76 million Pounds (then $20 million, now $24.73 million).
The sale was opposed by several groups in Britain, and the government placed a year-long export ban on the statue.
The ban was was due to expire on July 29 but the British government extended it to August 28 to give a final opportunity to a buyer to "put forward a serious expression of interest to raise funds to keep the Sekhemka statue in the UK".
Antiquities Minister Mamdouh El-Damaty called on Egyptians at home and abroad to contribute the funds.
"We call on Egyptians abroad and lovers of Egyptian art, who previously requested time, to collect donations to purchase the artefact and return it to Egypt, to undertake this task," he told a news conference in Cairo.
"Human heritage is in the ownership of museums, and that is ethical and respected. It must not be destroyed through the sale of these collections, which might go to someone ignorant of their value, which might go to someone's personal collections, who may not understand their artistic value," Damaty said.
The director-general of the repatriation department at the antiquities ministry said Northampton Museum should not have sold the statue to begin with.
"There is a museum selling an artefact. That is not the role of a museum. Museums are for spreading culture, knowledge and civilisations. If the museum was undergoing financial crisis, it should not have sold a piece of antiquities, because if it sells the artefact, it goes from the public domain into the private domain," Ali Ahmed Ali said.
Egyptian authorities are concerned that the sale of Sekhemka may set a precedent for the sale of further archaeological artefacts.
"This was the first time this happened, but afterwards there was another attempt in the U.S. but the sale was stopped. There was an archaeological artefact originating from an area called Al-Haraga in Middle Egypt. The sale was stopped, but it followed the Northampton sale of the Sekhemka statue," Ali said.
Antiquities are a major tourist attraction in Egypt, but the country's tourism sector has been hammered since the popular uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
Last year, Egypt earned $7.3 billion from the sector, the government said in May. The tourism minister has said Egypt wants to reach $26 billion by 2020. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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