Switzerland returned to Egypt on Monday a fragment of a more than 3,400-year-old statue of Pharaoh Ramses II, which was stolen decades ago from a temple in Abydos.
Carine Bachmann, director of the Federal Office of Culture, handed over this “important archaeological asset” to the Egyptian embassy in Bern, Switzerland, on Monday.
Ascending to the throne at age 25, succeeding his father Seti I, Ramesses II ruled Egypt for approximately 66 years, the longest reign in Egyptian history. An exhibition is currently dedicated to him in Paris until September 6.
The returned fragment had been stolen between the late 1980s and the early 1990s from the temple of Ramses II, at Abydos in Egypt, the office stated in a press release.
The fragment transited through different countries before arriving in Switzerland, where it was finally confiscated by the Genevan authorities following criminal proceedings.
“This restitution of the fragment underlines the joint commitment of Switzerland and Egypt to combat the illicit trade in cultural property, reinforced in 2011 under a bilateral agreement on the import and return of cultural property,” said the Federal Office of Culture.
