Iconic Mallawi Statue Recovered

Egypt said on Sunday it has recovered a statue of pharaoh Tutankhamun's sister looted from the Mallawi museum [...] The 32 centimetre (12.6 inches) limestone statue of Ankhesamon, sister of the famous boy king and daughter of pharaoh Akhenaten, who ruled around 1,500 BC, was stolen on August 14. "The piece is one of the most important in the museum," said antiquities minister Mohamed Ibrahim in a statement. Authorities have recovered 800 of the 1,050 artefacts stolen from the museum in southern Egypt during nationwide riots on August 14 after police clashed with Islamists in Cairo, he added. 

Ibrahim said that the statue's recovery had been undertaken along with the Tourism and Antiquities Police, after a gang of antiquities smugglers had been apprehended and one of its members tipped off the police regarding the statue's location. The small figure however has been broken into at least three pieces since it was taken from the museum.

AFP, 'Statue of pharaoh Tutankhamon's sister recovered', 8th December 2013.


Nevine El-Aref , 'Ankhesom statue goes back to Egypt's Malawi Museum' Al Ahram 8 Dec 2013