Germany returns 4 stolen statues dating back to 600 BC to Egypt

CAIRO – 30 September 2020: Germany returned four archaeological statues to Egypt. Head of the Government of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Armin Laschet, handed over four antique statues, dating back to the period between 600 and 400 BC, to the Egyptian ambassador.

These statues had been confiscated during a security campaign. According to state government data, the Paderborn Public Prosecutor confiscated the statues in 2016 during investigations into the circulation of stolen artwork.

After the investigations closed, the Public Prosecutor released the statues to be returned to the Egyptian state. Laschet handed the statues to Egyptian Ambassador Khaled Galal Abdel Hamid during his first visit to the state government headquarters in Dusseldorf.

"Cultural assets transmitted as part of the cultural heritage of mankind are testimonies to history and part of the cultural identity of every nation," Laschet said. He expressed his happiness that he was able to return part of the cultural history with these historical statues dating back to the late Egyptian era.

It is noteworthy that Soha Bahgat, the official spokeswoman for Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, said that Egypt’s Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Khaled el-Anani met in Germany with a group of tourism officials, headed by the Minister of State for German Tourism Affairs, Chairman of the Tourism Committee in Parliament and Chairman of the COVID-19 Crisis Committee in Germany.

This meeting comes within a series of meetings to discuss the return of the German tourism movement to Egypt, as Egypt comes among the countries placed by Germany on the travel ban list, according to Bahgat.