In recent weeks, Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities has done something unusual in the restitution debate.
Its secretary-general, Mohamed Ismail Khaled, has said publicly that Egypt accepts thousands of ancient objects staying in British museums, describing them as part of London’s cultural identity. What Egypt wants back, he added, is one specific object: the Rosetta Stone.
At the same time, archaeologist Zahi Hawass has relaunched his campaign for three flagship pieces to return: the Rosetta Stone in the British Museum, the Dendera Zodiac in the Louvre and the bust of Nefertiti in Berlin. Petitions have gathered hundreds of thousands of signatures, whilst Egyptian media frame these items as missing pieces in the national collection.
The timing is not accidental. With the Grand Egyptian Museum now open beside the pyramids, Cairo can point to a modern institution with laboratories, climate control and exhibition space that rivals Europe’s best.
Icons Taken in an Age of Empires
The Rosetta Stone entered the British Museum in 1802 after British forces defeated Napoleon in Egypt and seized French finds under the Treaty of Alexandria. Its trilingual inscription allowed scholars to decipher hieroglyphs and laid the foundations of modern Egyptology.
The Dendera Zodiac was cut from a temple ceiling under French military occupation and shipped to Paris in 1821. The bust of Nefertiti left Egypt in 1913 after a disputed division of finds from German excavations at Amarna.
In each case, formal paperwork existed, but the broader context was one of unequal power and foreign control. Egyptian officials now draw a line between this small group of emblematic objects and the thousands of lesser-known pieces that travelled abroad through legal sale or partage systems.
The message is pragmatic: most of what is already in Europe can remain there, but a handful of icons, taken at moments of conquest or imbalance, should return.
What European Museums Argue
The British Museum maintains that it is bound by its founding law, which severely restricts the removal of items from its collection. Curators stress conservation expertise and the role of the Rosetta Stone as an ambassador that introduces millions of visitors to Egyptian history each year.
The Louvre and Berlin’s Neues Museum use similar language. They present themselves as universal museums, where objects from many cultures sit side by side and can be studied together.
Some art historians warn that large-scale returns would fragment collections and reduce opportunities for comparative research. Behind these positions is another concern: if one major work moves, others may follow.
Greece’s claim to the Parthenon sculptures, Nigeria’s to the Benin Bronzes and Ethiopia’s to looted manuscripts all press on the same fault line: imperial collections built when local voices had little say.
Egypt’s Responsibilities and Realities
The record in Egypt is not simple either. For decades, poor funding, looting and chaotic urban growth damaged sites and collections. Temples were cleared for modern projects, and some local officials treated antiquities as obstacles rather than assets.
Egyptian archaeologists are often the first to acknowledge this history. Their argument is not that the country has always protected its heritage perfectly, but that it has changed.
Today, exports of antiquities are banned, new museums have opened, and thousands of illegally traded objects have been repatriated through court cases and diplomatic pressure. In that context, keeping the Rosetta Stone abroad starts to look less like stewardship and more like habit.
The old claim that Egypt lacks the facilities to care for its own icons no longer matches reality.
Access and Who Gets to Visit
European collections have played an important role in spreading knowledge of ancient Egypt. For many people in Spain, Poland or Morocco, a trip to London or Paris is still easier than reaching Cairo.
Seeing obelisks, sarcophagi and temple reliefs in their home capitals has sparked lifelong interests in archaeology and history. From Cairo, the picture looks different.
The stone that unlocked the ancient language of the Nile stands in a city that never belonged to that civilisation. Egyptians who wish to see it in person must obtain visas, pay high travel costs and join the same queues as international tourists.
Officials now say openly that whilst they do not seek to empty European galleries, they struggle to accept that such a central object remains elsewhere by default.
Towards Shared Custody
Other cases hint at possible compromises. Several European countries have begun returning specific looted works, often in exchange for long-term loans or joint exhibitions.
The gradual restitution of Benin Bronzes to Nigeria, for example, has been combined with plans for collaborative displays in Europe. Something similar could be imagined for Egypt: permanent return of a small group of emblematic pieces, formalised loans of others, and shared research programmes linking Cairo, London, Paris and Berlin.
None of this would erase the history of how the objects moved, but it would recognise that the political context has changed.
After the Old Excuses
The Grand Egyptian Museum does not make European work on Egypt irrelevant, nor does it guarantee that every object on its shelves will be safe from future instability. What it does is remove the easiest defence against restitution.
Capacity is no longer the main issue. Europe must now decide whether it is willing to treat certain artefacts not just as teaching tools or tourist magnets, but as parts of someone else’s historical core.
For Egypt, pieces like the Rosetta Stone, the Dendera Zodiac and the bust of Nefertiti sit in that category. For European museums, recognising this would mean accepting that some of their most cherished objects might one day have another address.
If a settlement can be found for these three works, it could set a precedent for handling many others taken in the age of empires. If not, the debate will continue to circle around the same positions, whilst the stone that recorded a royal decree in three scripts keeps drawing crowds in London.
Keep up with Daily Euro Times for more updates.
Read also:
Egypt: The Grand Egyptian Museum and the Age of Monumental Culture
The Near East in the Louvre: Time Held in Stone
Trafficked Antiquities: Where Southern Europe’s Treasures Actually Go
