Zahi Hawass expresses his dissatisfaction with the Champollion statue at the College de France

Yasser El-Ghobeiry and Ahmed Sawan

Archaeologist Dr. Zahi Hawass said, “The Egyptian antiquities that will be displayed in the Grand Museum are a message to the world to tell them that we preserve and respect antiquities, despite the financial crises we are going through, but we would like to say that Egyptian antiquities belong to the whole world, so we preserve them.”

Hawass added that “France is one of the most important countries that preserve Egyptian antiquities, whether through the French Institute or others, and there is a very important archaeologist who introduced a law for antiquities in 1922, and he said in the law that any mission that discovers a tomb must not even a single artifact from the tomb. This is what preserved for us the entire tomb of Tutankhamun. Had it not been for this law, all of Tutankhamun’s treasures would have been with Lord Carnarvon.”

“The relationship between us and France is very strong at the level of antiquities, and it is enough for us that Champollion deciphered the Egyptian civilization and uttered the symbols on the walls of Egyptian temples. We in Egypt must celebrate the birth of Champollion, for whom we erected a statue in Egypt, and we have a street named after him. I insisted on visiting his house and sitting at his desk,” he continued.

Hawass concluded by saying, “We are upset with the College de France statue, where Champollion stands with his foot on the head of one of the kings of Egypt, and we hope that this statue will be hidden far away from people, because whoever sees this statue sees that this matter is contempt for Egyptian civilization. I assure that, through the Egyptian antiquities, Egypt will have a very good and serious language of dialogue with the various countries of the world.”

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 descendant of Napoleon Bonaparte, Prince Joachim Murat, and his wife, Princess Yasmine, were also in attendance, in addition to former ministers, senior French writers and intellectuals, led by Gilbert Sinoué.

The symposium was also attended by Pierre Lellouche, former Minister of European Affairs; the great Arab poet Adunis; Yves Thréard, deputy editor-in-chief of Le Figaro; Jean-Sébastien Ferjou, editor-in-chief of Atlantico; and French Senator Jacqueline Eustache-Brinio.

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.