Netherlands to Return 3,500-Year-Old Looted Sculpture to Egypt

On November 2, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof announced the upcoming return of a 3,500-year-old sculpture from Egypt. This significant relic, a stone bust of a prominent official from the Pharaoh Thutmose III dynasty, was confirmed to have been stolen and unlawfully exported during the 2011 or 2012 Arab Spring. The piece was seized at the TEFAF art fair in 2022, where it was being offered for €190,000 by a Swiss gallery. It is being returned after investigations uncovered its illegal background and links to a Spanish dealer arrested for related crimes.

This announcement occurred alongside the Grand Egyptian Museum’s grand opening in Giza, a vast initiative housing 100,000 artifacts, including items from King Tutankhamun’s tomb. The Netherlands’ action is part of a wider repatriation campaign led by Egyptian officials, who are pressing for the return of culturally important artifacts located overseas, such as the Rosetta Stone in the British Museum.

Prime Minister Schoof’s remarks emphasized the Netherlands’ commitment to restoring cultural heritage to its rightful nations. The repatriation of these artifacts highlights a rising global agreement on the need to maintain historical narratives and cultural identities. Egyptologists and researchers see the GEM opening as a chance to advance these initiatives, urging institutions that possess Egyptian artifacts abroad to rethink their positions and fostering worldwide dialogue on cultural restitution.