Egypt Displays Looted Coffin Returned From New York's Met
Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2019 7:25 am
Journalists gather around the golden coffin that once held the mummy of Nedjemankh, a priest in the Ptolemaic Period some 2,000 years ago, at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, in Old Cairo, Egypt, Oct. 1, 2019.
CAIRO - Egypt is displaying a gilded ancient coffin returned to the country last week from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art after U.S. investigators determined to be a looted antiquity.
The coffin once held the mummy of Nedjemankh, a priest in the Ptolemaic Period some 2,000 years ago. It was put on display on Tuesday at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Cairo.
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U.S. Charge d'Affaires Thomas Goldberger attended the ceremony.
Antiquities Minister Khaled el-Ananni said the repatriation of this "unique, wonderful" artifact shows a "very strong solidarity" beteen Egypt and the U.S.
The Met bought it from a Paris art dealer in 2017 for about $4 million and made it the centerpiece of an exhibition. It was removed in February. The Met has apologized to Egypt.