GIZA THAT BACK!
Egypt could demand Scots museum returns piece of Great Pyramid if it was exported illegally
IT is a prized artefact from the ancient world brought to Britain during the height of the Victorian era.
But now the Egyptian authorities want to prevent a stone from the Great Pyramid of Giza going on public display for the first time – unless Scots museum chiefs can produce 147-year-old documentation proving it was imported legally.
The rare casing stone was brought to Scotland in 1872 for Charles Piazzi Smyth, then the Astronomer Royal for Scotland.
The stone was displayed in his Edinburgh home in a custom-made glass case until 1955, when it was donated to the National Museum of Scotland by the Royal Observatory.
Now, only weeks away from its unveiling at an exhibition in Edinburgh, the pyramid stone has become the subject of a diplomatic row that threatens to keep it from public view.
The Egyptian government says it could demand Britain returns the stone if the National Museum of Scotland cannot produce docu- mentation that it was legally imported into the country.
In a statement, Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities said: ‘We have addressed the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to take all necessary action to contact the Scottish authorities and the National Museum of Scotland to communicate the documents of ownership and export certificates of that stone mass, the method of exit from Egypt and the date of obtaining it.
‘The current Egyptian law on the protection of effects criminalises trafficking in effects. They are not allowed to be exported and are considered public funds.
‘If the mass or any other artefact were to be found removed illegally, all necessary action would be taken to recover it.’
The large block of fine white limestone is one of the few surviving casing stones from the Great Pyramid.
It will form the centrepiece of a new gallery, Ancient Egypt Rediscovered, from February 8 this year.
Built for King Khufu and dating to 2589-2566 BC, the Great Pyramid of Giza is the oldest and largest of the three pyramids there.
It was clad in bright white, polished limestone brought from a quarry at Tura, more than nine miles down the Nile.
The stones formed the outer surface of the pyramids and are iden- tifiable by their sloped, triangular faces.
A spokesman for National Museums Scotland said: ‘We have a casing stone which was discovered among loose rubble at the base of the Great Pyramid in 1869.
‘It was brought to the UK by British engineer Waynman Dixon in 1872. We have received a communication from the Embassy of Arab Republic of Egypt regarding this object. We are considering its contents and will reply in due course.’
It comes after the Egyptian government announced it had repatriated an ‘illegally smuggled’ artefact from Britain.
A statement issued earlier this week said the newly recovered relief with cartouche of King Amenhotep I from the 18th dynasty had been on display at a London auction house.
It said the relief was originally exhibited at the open museum of the ancient temple of Karnak in the city of Luxor, but did not divulge how the artefact was smuggled out of the country.
It is the latest controversy to involve ancient antiquities held by Britain’s museums, including the now notorious Elgin marbles.
The marbles were removed from the ruins of the Parthenon temple in Athens and shipped to England between 1801 and 1805. At the time, Greece was part of the Turks’ Ottoman Empire.
Their ownership has been the subject of debate between Britain and the Greek authorities, who claim the marbles were stolen.
‘Necessary action to recover it’