Ministry of Antiquities (Egypt)


The Ministry of Antiquities is the Egyptian government organization which serves to protect and preserve the heritage and ancient history of Egypt.

History

It was formed from the Supreme Council of Antiquities in 2011 during the reign of President Hosni Mubarak to deal with the security and theft of Egyptian antiquities.
Grave robbers have been looting ancient Egyptian tombs for centuries. The Ministry of Antiquities works to get the items restored back to Egypt, whenever possible. Over the years, thousands of stolen antiquities have made their way back to Egypt. For instance, in late 2016, the ministry recovered and repatriated two of four Islamic era lamps which had been stolen in 2015. In 2018, a carving in the shape of Osiris which had been hidden in furniture and shipped to Kuwait was repatriated to Egypt's Ministry of Antiquities.

Projects

From 2009 to 2014, the ministry worked with the Getty Conservation Institute on the management and conservation of the Tomb of Tutankhamen.

Past ministers

In 2016, the minister, Khaled El-Anany, stated his primary focus would be on solving the budget deficit of the ministry, given that many projects were stalled for lack of funding.