Egypt welcomes return of stolen 3,400-year-old statue of King Ramses

Cairo: Egypt welcomed a 3,400-year-old statue depicting the head of King Ramses II after it was stolen and smuggled out of the country more than three decades ago, the country’s Antiquities Ministry said on Sunday.

The statue is now in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, but is not on display. The object will be restored, the ministry said in a statement.

The statue was stolen from the temple of Ramses II in the ancient city of Abydos in southern Egypt more than three decades ago.

The exact date is unknown, but Shaaban Abdel Gawad, who heads Egypt’s antiquities repatriation department, said the piece is estimated to have been stolen in the late 1980s or early 1990s.