A 3,400-year-old statue depicting the head of King Ramses II has finally returned. Stolen and smuggled out of the country over three decades ago, the statue’s homecoming marks the culmination of years of collaboration between Egyptian and international authorities.
The missing artifact, believed to have been taken from the famed Ramses II temple in Abydos sometime in the late 1980s or early 1990s, resurfaced in a surprising way. Keen-eyed Egyptian officials spotted the statue offered for sale at a 2013 exhibition in London. The statue’s journey then led it through several countries before reaching Switzerland.
Working closely with their Swiss counterparts, Egyptian authorities successfully established their rightful ownership of the statue. Switzerland repatriated the artifact to the Egyptian embassy in Bern last year, and it has now arrived at its permanent home – the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
“This head is part of a group of statues depicting King Ramses II seated alongside a number of Egyptian deities,” said Shaaban Abdel Gawad, head of Egypt’s antiquities repatriation department. King Ramses II, also known as Ramses the Great, ruled Egypt from 1279 to 1213 BC. The statue is now in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The statue will undergo restoration before being put on display for the public to admire.
