Egypt
This lintel is from the Old Kingdom chapel of the High Priest Hunefer at Saqqara during the reign of the VI Dynasty King Pepi I, 2332-2283 BC. The lintel was along with two other pieces on display at the Fine Arts Museum in Budapest, Hungary has been demonstrated to be stolen from Egypt.
One has to wonder how a reputable museum which I would assume Budapest's Fine Arts Museum to be (?), could be acquiring such an obvious set of inscriptions and what homework did the museum do before acquiring these pieces to check if they had been stolen from Egypt. Does the museum have documents from Egypt's antiquities department to verify that they were legal for the museum to buy?
If not, then it sounds like the museum has a shoot first ask questions later attitude, I guess once the pieces are on display than the museum will deal with the issue as, and if it happens there display is proved stolen. What consequences does the museum face, its director and the purchasers of the material, is there any meat of punishment towards the institution or does the Fine Arts Museum's director hand back the pieces and say OOPS sorry, and that's the end of it.
This sounds to me like a serious crime on the international art market, that without consequences to the museum opens the door for all other institutions to do likewise and play fast with the trust and reputation of their citizens, as it sounds like the people of Budapest and their guests have been, and in the knowledge that Budapest and greater Hungary's own history can be carried away just as easily.
Photo: Al Ahram
- Call For Papers For The Third International Congress For Young Egyptologists
Egittologia - Archaeogate Call for Papers for The Third International Congress for Young Egyptologists "Commerce and Economy in Ancient Egypt" - Budapest (Hungary), September 25 – 27, 2009. Call for papers. The "Third International Congress for Young...
- Egypt Gets Back Stolen Antiquities From Spain
Egypt State Information Services The Supreme Council of Antiquities has left no stone unturned to retrieve three stolen items from Spain as an SCA delegation will finally leave for Barcelona tomorrow to have them back. Dating back to the New Kingdom,...
- Hungarian Archaeological Expedition In Nubia
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Trends&loid=8.0.209989248&par=0"A team of Hungarian archaeologists, headed by Egyptologist Gabor Lassanyi, will conduct excavations in Sudanese Nubia - an area on the river Nile conquered by ancient Egyptians...
- Egypt Recovers 7 Antiquities
http://www.sis.gov.eg/online/html12/o170325p.htm "Egypt has reclaimed seven rare pieces of antiquities from Britain that were stolen a couple of years ago. The 9,000-year-old pieces that resurfaced during a purchase attempt in Britain early this year...
- Mfa Highlights: Arts Of Ancient Egypt
Rita Freed Lawrence M. Berman Denise M. Doxey Museum of Fine Arts Boston 2003 ISBN 0-87846-661-4 Recently my nine year old charge Natasha was on her way to Boston with her family so I urged her to visit the Museum of Fine...
Egypt
Crime and Punishment in Budapest
One has to wonder how a reputable museum which I would assume Budapest's Fine Arts Museum to be (?), could be acquiring such an obvious set of inscriptions and what homework did the museum do before acquiring these pieces to check if they had been stolen from Egypt. Does the museum have documents from Egypt's antiquities department to verify that they were legal for the museum to buy?
If not, then it sounds like the museum has a shoot first ask questions later attitude, I guess once the pieces are on display than the museum will deal with the issue as, and if it happens there display is proved stolen. What consequences does the museum face, its director and the purchasers of the material, is there any meat of punishment towards the institution or does the Fine Arts Museum's director hand back the pieces and say OOPS sorry, and that's the end of it.
This sounds to me like a serious crime on the international art market, that without consequences to the museum opens the door for all other institutions to do likewise and play fast with the trust and reputation of their citizens, as it sounds like the people of Budapest and their guests have been, and in the knowledge that Budapest and greater Hungary's own history can be carried away just as easily.
Photo: Al Ahram
- Call For Papers For The Third International Congress For Young Egyptologists
Egittologia - Archaeogate Call for Papers for The Third International Congress for Young Egyptologists "Commerce and Economy in Ancient Egypt" - Budapest (Hungary), September 25 – 27, 2009. Call for papers. The "Third International Congress for Young...
- Egypt Gets Back Stolen Antiquities From Spain
Egypt State Information Services The Supreme Council of Antiquities has left no stone unturned to retrieve three stolen items from Spain as an SCA delegation will finally leave for Barcelona tomorrow to have them back. Dating back to the New Kingdom,...
- Hungarian Archaeological Expedition In Nubia
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Trends&loid=8.0.209989248&par=0"A team of Hungarian archaeologists, headed by Egyptologist Gabor Lassanyi, will conduct excavations in Sudanese Nubia - an area on the river Nile conquered by ancient Egyptians...
- Egypt Recovers 7 Antiquities
http://www.sis.gov.eg/online/html12/o170325p.htm "Egypt has reclaimed seven rare pieces of antiquities from Britain that were stolen a couple of years ago. The 9,000-year-old pieces that resurfaced during a purchase attempt in Britain early this year...
- Mfa Highlights: Arts Of Ancient Egypt
Rita Freed Lawrence M. Berman Denise M. Doxey Museum of Fine Arts Boston 2003 ISBN 0-87846-661-4 Recently my nine year old charge Natasha was on her way to Boston with her family so I urged her to visit the Museum of Fine...