Zahi Hawass: Egypt’s unique antiquities must return to their homeland

Yasser El-Ghobeiry and Ahmed Sawan

Archaeologist Dr. Zahi Hawass said, “When I was Minister of Antiquities, I organized laws for antiquities, and I said that Egyptians must get to know their antiquities and learn them so that they are not subordinate to foreigners.”

Hawass added that when he was minister, “a theft of Egyptian antiquities occurred from one of the female employees of the Louvre Museum. We applied for the return of the antiquities, and the French mission operating in Egypt stopped [its work] at the time. Then-President Sarkozy spoke to President Mubarak, and President Mubarak blamed me. I explained to him that the Louvre in Paris stole Egyptian antiquities, so he told me he would contact Sarkozy.”

“We Egyptians will not have a strong dialogue without having real power, and we have the antiquities of Egypt that have the real power. When we sent an archaeological exhibition to Egypt, we sent them the sarcophagus that had not left Egypt before, and this sarcophagus was warmly received when it arrived in France, with the same hospitality with which King Ramses was received before,” Hawass continued.

“We say that the sarcophagus is here in France because we would like to strengthen the Egyptian-French relations through antiquities. When I look from here and see the Egyptian obelisk, I feel sad, because the unique Egyptian antiquities must be returned to Egypt again, and when I see the [Dendera] zodiac in the Louvre, I am very sad because it is lying in the dark. Egyptian antiquities must once again return to their home,” he added.

The famed Egyptologist’s remarks came during the symposium of the Center for Middle East Studies (CEMO) in Paris, which was organized on Friday, April 7, at the historic Hotel de Crillon overlooking the Pharaonic obelisk, under the title “Egypt: The Dawn of Conscience”.

Egypt’s former Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Dr. Zahi Hawass, and journalist Abdelrahim Ali, director of CEMO in Paris, spoke at the symposium, which was also attended by Egyptian Ambassador to France Alaa Youssef, a group of editors-in-chief of French newspapers, a number of French parliamentarians, as well as a number of senior politicians and Egyptologists.

The symposium was held on the sidelines of the Ramses and the Gold of the Pharaohs Exhibition, which kicked off on Thursday, April 6, in Paris and will continue for five months in the French capital.