On Monday, Switzerland returned a fragment of a statue of Pharaoh Ramses II to Egypt, which had been stolen several decades ago from a temple in Abydos.
Carine Bachmann, the director of the Federal Office of Culture (OFC), handed over this “significant archaeological artifact” to the Egyptian embassy in Bern, Switzerland.
The fragment belongs to a stone sculpture of Pharaoh Ramses II, which is part of a group statue featuring the king alongside various Egyptian deities, according to the OFC.
Ramses II ascended to the throne at the age of 25, succeeding his father Seti I, and his reign lasted approximately 66 years, making it the longest in Egyptian history. Currently, there is an exhibition dedicated to Ramses II in Paris, which runs until September 6th.
The fragment that was returned had been stolen from the temple of Ramses II in Abydos, Egypt, between the late 1980s and early 1990s.
It had passed through several countries before reaching Switzerland, where it was ultimately confiscated by the authorities in the canton of Geneva following legal proceedings.
“This restitution underlines the joint commitment of Switzerland and Egypt to combat the illicit trade in cultural property, reinforced in 2011 by the entry into force of a bilateral agreement on the import and return of cultural property. “, said the Federal Office of Culture.
Both Switzerland and Egypt are parties to the 1970 UNESCO Convention to Prohibit and Prevent the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property.