Cairo inquires about part of Great Pyramid planned to be displayed at Scottish museum

CAIRO, 4 Jan 2018: The Ministry of Antiquities has contacted the Foreign Ministry to take all necessary measures to contact Scottish authorities and the National Museum of Scotland to check on ownership documents and export certificates of a casing stone from the Great Pyramid of Giza which the museum said it plans to display next month.

Supervisor General of Egypt's Antiquities Repatriation Department Shaaban Abdel Gawad said on Thursday that the rare block of white limestone is set to go on display on February 8 at an exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh city.

Abdel Gawad’s remarks, which came in a statement by the Ministry of Antiquities, were made in response to reports published by some foreign newspapers about displaying the rare stone from King Khufu’s pyramid, along with other ancient Egyptian artifacts, at the Scottish museum.

The Egyptian law criminalizes antiquities’ smuggling and does not allow exporting them, the official said.

If it is proven that the ancient block was looted and smuggled outside Egypt, all necessary measures will be taken to restore it, he stressed.