Kid's-Eye View
November 13, 2009
Debate!
In late October, New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art returned to Egypt a part of its history. A piece of a pharaoh's red granite shrine, known as a "naos," arrived in Egypt on October 29. The Met purchased the artifact from a collector so that it could be returned. Archaeologist Zahi Hawass is Egypt's deputy minister of culture. He hailed the Met's move as a "great deed."
Hawass is on a mission to reclaim Egypt's treasures. Egyptians see him as a "guardian of monuments," says Hawass. He believes that priceless artifacts have been stolen from Egypt. He has a long list of objects that he wants returned, including a bust of Queen Nefertiti and the Rosetta Stone.
Nefertiti's bust is in the Neues Museum, in Berlin, Germany. The likeness of the beautiful queen is famous worldwide. Hawass told a German magazine that he suspects that the sculpture was "smuggled out of Egypt, bypassing the law." The museum insists that it acquired the bust legally.
The Rosetta Stone is housed in the British Museum, in London, England. The stone helped unlock the meaning of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. Soldiers in Napoleon's army discovered the Rosetta Stone in 1799. When the British defeated Napoleon's army, the stone became British property under the terms of the Treaty of Alexandria. The Rosetta Stone has been on display in the museum since 1802.
In early October, Hawass won another battle to reclaim his country's treasures. The Louvre, in Paris, France, returned five painted wall fragments from an ancient Egyptian tomb. Egypt had cut off all ties with the Louvre and would not let its archaeologist dig in Egypt until France agreed to return the fragments.
On his website, Hawass warned other museums that they would not be allowed to keep Egypt's artifacts. "In 2002, I sent a letter to all the major national museums telling them not to purchase illegal antiquities, because this encourages tomb robbery," Hawass wrote. "When robbers enter the tombs and cut pieces out of the walls and take the objects, they are not just damaging the beauty of the tombs, they are damaging history."
Hawass insists that museums must return any stolen object to its country of origin. What do you think?
