Shortly after attending the opening ceremony of the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza, the Dutch prime minister announced Sunday that the Netherlands will return a 3,500-year-old Pharaonic bust to Egypt.
According to a statement from the Dutch government, Prime Minister Dick Schoof told Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi that the Netherlands would return the ancient sculpture depicting a high-ranking official from the reign of Pharaoh Thutmose III (1479–1425 BCE). The artwork was spotted for sale at an art fair in 2022 and later seized by Dutch authorities, who received an anonymous tip that it had been stolen from Egypt.
The statement said the art fair “trader voluntarily renounced the sculpture” after investigators “found that the head was obtained by looting and was unlawfully exported.”
The bust is set to be handed over to Egypt’s ambassador to the Netherlands by the end of the year, marking the first artifact returned to Egypt since the long-awaited opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM).
CBS News reports that dozens of foreign leaders and dignitaries attended Saturday’s opening of the $1 billion new facility nearly 25 years in the making, and now ranking among the largest museums in the world. The 968,000-square-foot building houses a collection spanning some 7,000 years; a 80,000-square-foot gallery is dedicated alone to all 5,600 burial objects from King Tutankhamun’s tomb. Other highlights include a large atrium featuring an 11-foot-tall statue of Ramses II and a grand staircase lined with statues and objects from a range of Egyptian dynasties.
“It is a great day for Egypt and for humanity. This is Egypt’s gift to the world. It’s a dream come true, after all these years, the GEM is finally and officially open,” Nevine El-Aref, media adviser to the Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, told CBS News.
