Egyptian heritage campaigners have declared a turning point in their long-running effort to bring home ancient treasures held in Western museums, including the Rosetta Stone in London, following the official opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza. As The Times UK reports, the country’s most celebrated Egyptologist, Dr Zahi Hawass, believes the new world-class institution will strengthen Egypt’s claim to repatriate key historical objects still housed abroad.
The renewed momentum coincides with the Netherlands’ decision to return a 3,500-year-old stone head from the dynasty of Thutmose III, seized at an art fair in Maastricht in 2022. Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof announced the move during a Benelux summit in Cairo alongside President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, saying the repatriation — due to take place in late 2025 — would proceed under the 1970 UNESCO Convention. The timing of the announcement, coinciding with the museum’s grand opening, was widely seen as symbolic.
Hawass, a former minister of antiquities and a long-time advocate for the return of Egypt’s cultural heritage, told The Times UK that the Dutch decision was evidence “the tide is turning.” He first launched his campaign in 2010 to reclaim three major artefacts — the Rosetta Stone from the British Museum, the bust of Nefertiti from Berlin’s Neues Museum, and the Dendera Zodiac from the Louvre in Paris — before it was derailed by the 2011 political upheaval. “In the past, they said our museums weren’t qualified,” he said. “Now we’ve built more than 22 museums to the highest standards — some more modern than those in America or Europe.”
Monica Hanna, dean of the Arab Academy for Science and Technology and leader of the “Repatriate Rashid” campaign, echoed the sentiment. She said the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum should “encourage those who want to do the right thing to do it.” Her movement calls for the return not only of the Rosetta Stone but also of the 17 artefacts removed alongside it by British troops in 1801. Volunteers plan to collect signatures from visitors at major Egyptian museums, including the Grand Egyptian Museum itself, with the goal of reaching one million names before submitting a formal legal request for repatriation.
The Rosetta Stone remains the most potent symbol of the repatriation debate. Discovered in 1799 in the Nile Delta town of Rashid by French soldiers and later seized by the British under the Treaty of Alexandria, the black basalt stele dates to 196 BCE and bears inscriptions in hieroglyphs, Demotic, and Greek. Its decipherment by French scholar Jean-François Champollion in 1822 unlocked the ancient Egyptian language and revolutionized archaeology. The stone has been displayed in the British Museum since 1802, despite repeated Egyptian requests for its return.
Hanna dismissed claims that Western museums provide superior protection for such artefacts, pointing to recent high-profile thefts and acts of vandalism. “What about the theft of 2,000 items from the British Museum last year, or the environmental activists pouring oil on Egyptian artefacts in Germany?” she asked. “Security cannot be an excuse for injustice.”
The Grand Egyptian Museum’s opening — more than two decades in the making — marks a moment of cultural pride for Egypt. Campaigners hope it will help dispel outdated perceptions that Egypt lacks the facilities to care for its heritage. The country’s modern museums now rival those of Europe and America in technology and conservation standards.
As The Times UK notes, the Netherlands’ decision adds to a growing list of repatriation successes for Egypt. In 2019, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art returned the gilded coffin of Nedjemankh, stolen during the 2011 unrest, after forged export documents were exposed. Since 2020, Egypt has recovered more than 5,000 artefacts through international cooperation, including 114 items from the United States and 91 from France.
Hawass and Hanna both emphasize that Egypt is not demanding the return of every artefact abroad — only those central to its national story, such as the Rosetta Stone, Ramses II’s statue in Turin, and fragments from Deir el-Medina. “We want those essential to Egypt’s narrative,” Hanna said. “The world should celebrate them in Egypt, where their history began.”
