CAIRO: A German university has agreed to return to Egypt pieces of artifacts that decorated the walls of an ancient pharaoh s tomb, Egypt s culture minister said Thursday.
Next month, the University of Tuebingen will hand over fragments from relief’s which once adorned the Tomb of Seti I outside Luxor, Culture Minister Farouk Hosni said in a statement from Egypt s Supreme Council of Antiquities.
The pieces were from some of the most beautiful artwork on the walls of the 19th Dynasty tomb, Hosni said. The site was vandalized by travelers in the last century, who hacked off pieces of its walls. Other fragments remain in collections around the world, the statement said.
The council said it was trying to collect other pieces and restore the tomb, which remains closed to the public.
Council Secretary General Zahi Hawass said the expected handover embodied the deep and strong diplomatic and cultural relation between Egypt and Germany, according to the statement. AP
