How does Egypt get back the lost cultural relics from the United States and France?

Establish a cultural relics restoration bureau

Before 1983, almost all Egyptian cultural relics flowed out of the country in a legal way, and the holders (whether legally held or illegally held) could buy and sell at will, and there was no law expressly prohibiting them.

1983, Egypt passed the law on the protection of cultural relics, prohibiting private ownership or trading of cultural relics, thus stopping the trend of almost legalization of cultural relics smuggling.

2002 is an important year for the restoration of cultural relics in Egypt, and the Bureau of Cultural Relics Restoration was also established in this year, which belongs to the Ministry of Cultural Relics and is responsible for the restoration of cultural relics. This institution has made great contributions to the recovery of national treasures, which can be described as the "eye of the sky" for discovering cultural relics. The bureau has a special person who is responsible for keeping track of the sales information of major auction houses and cultural relics exhibitions abroad. Once the lost cultural relics are locked, documents such as cultural relics information and ownership evidence will be prepared, and then the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will come forward to negotiate with the target country to prevent them from continuing to sell and exhibit.

Next, the consultation between the two sides will involve the question of whether the documentary evidence constitutes enough reasons for returning, which is also the difficulty of recourse for world cultural relics. Countries often have different opinions on the identification of evidence and the length of retrospective period. Egypt mainly solves this problem through the registration of cultural relics. The Ministry of Cultural Relics will have a special person to take photos of cultural relics unearthed in China. Even if it is lost, there are still written records that can be used for tracking, and it will not become a "headless case".

In addition, Egypt will also strengthen cooperation with law enforcement departments of some key countries (especially those with major cultural relics loss), such as immigration law enforcement in the United States against the return of cultural relics. Behind the Egyptian cultural relics seized this time is a five-year-long operation, code-named "Curse of Mummy", with the goal of an international cultural relics smuggling network. Since 2007, the US Immigration Enforcement Bureau has returned hundreds of cultural relics to Egypt four times, in addition to 7,800 cultural relics from 30 other countries, from French paintings to Mongolian dinosaur fossils.

Egypt also cooperates closely with the International Council of Museums under UNESCO, and some important cultural relics have been included in the red list of the Council. The Committee is a non-governmental organization composed of museums and museum professionals. Once the cultural relics listed in the red list are found in the subordinate museums, the corresponding procedures will be started to help the lost countries recover the cultural relics.

There is an international practice in the field of cultural relics: a country cannot allow its own cultural relics to leave the country illegally on the one hand and demand other countries to return them on the other. If so, the appeal of the country in this regard will be greatly reduced. Egypt is also confident in this respect and has made great efforts in the protection of cultural relics. There are cultural relics smuggling checkpoints at customs ports and tourist police to deal with smugglers and grave robbers. Once the illegal cultural relics are inspected at the customs, the carriers will be severely punished.

In 20 10, Egypt and China signed an agreement on the protection and return of illegally trafficked and stolen cultural property from their countries of origin. According to the agreement, the two sides will return the illegally flowing cultural relics to each other. Egypt, Switzerland and other European and American countries have also signed such agreements. Combating smuggling through bilateral and multilateral agreements is another focus of Egypt.

"Courtesy in front of soldiers"

All the above recourse methods require both parties to sit down and talk calmly. If you can't do this, the Egyptians also know the truth of "courtesy before soldiers".

In 2009, Egypt asked the Louvre in France to return five decorations, which were unearthed from a cemetery in the ancient city of Luxor and stolen. The Louvre bought these cultural relics, even though it knew they were "from the wrong source".

After the Louvre refused to return it, the Egyptian side responded quickly, announcing that it would cut off all cooperation with the Louvre, not allow it to engage in any archaeological activities in Egypt, and stopped some archaeological projects that were being carried out at that time.

Two days later, the Louvre "bowed its head mainly" and expressed its willingness to return it. At the end of 2009, when Egyptian President Mubarak visited Paris, French President Nicolas Sarkozy personally returned five pieces.

It should be noted that behind the success, there are still some "hard bones" in Egypt, such as the Rosetta Stone in the British Museum.

The Egyptian Museum has a copy of this stone tablet. This museum with tens of thousands of pieces is the only replica, which shows the weight of this stone tablet. After Napoleon's defeat, Britain grabbed this monument from France, and now it is the "treasure of the town hall" in the Egyptian Pavilion of the British Museum. The letters of Ptolemy V, the Pharaoh of ancient Egypt, are engraved on the stone tablet in three languages, which can be compared with each other. This is the key to unlock the hieroglyphics of ancient Egypt and one of the key points for the Department of Cultural Relics to recover the lost cultural relics.

Britain has returned many cultural relics to Egypt in the past few years, but the Egyptian government has repeatedly asked Britain for the Rosetta Stone, and Britain has always refused, which has made the Egyptians bite their roots.

In addition to the Rosetta Stone, there are several weighty cultural relics, such as the bust of Nefertiti and the slate of the constellation Dandra, which are the most important things that Egypt is eager to recover.

This ancient civilization was ravaged and treasures were scattered all over the place. Too many national treasures are still wandering. How to "return the treasure to Zhao" is still a long and difficult road. Fortunately, the roads are smooth, the walls are intact, and everything can be worked hard.