Six months after they were reported stolen from the Egyptian Museum, four artefacts belonging to Pharaoh Tutankhamun and his family have been recovered. But could the Golden King's trumpet herald the fulfilment of an ancient curse, asks Nevine El-Aref Now and again coincidence plays a part in the discovery of antiquities, but this week it played an even more significant role when objects that were found to be missing from the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square in the early days of the January Revolution were unexpectedly retrieved. Salah Abdel-Salam, a public relations officer at the Ministry of State for Antiquities Affairs (MSAA), was making the daily journey from his home in Shubra to his office at the ministry in Zamalek when he made a surprising discovery. While waiting for his train at the Shubra Metro station, Abdel-Salam noticed a small black bag on the seat beside him. Over the next 15 minutes, no one came to retrieve the bag, he later said. Mindful of security reminders about leaving unaccompanied items of luggage -- and especially in view of the recent violent in the country -- he decided to open the bag. After removing the cover he was amazed to see a gilded wooden statue smiling up at him. He recognised it immediately: it is a statue of the 18th- Dynasty Pharaoh Tutankhamun, the very one that was reported missing from the Egyptian Museum after the 28 January break-in. With it were other missing artefacts. Abdel-Salam excitedly picked up the bag and took it to the MSAA. The gilded statue of Tutankhamun was part of one that depicts the boy king standing in a boat and throwing a harpoon. The statue had suffered slight damage; a small part of the crown was missing as well as pieces of the legs. The boat was left behind in the museum, and the figure of the king will soon be reunited with it and restored. The second item was one of the 10 missing ushabti (votive figurine) statuettes from the tomb of Yuya and Thuya. "This is still in very good condition," the museum's director Tarek El-Awadi said. He went on to say that the ushabti figurine did not require restoration and would be replaced on display immediately. The third object was a gilded bronze and wooden trumpet of Tutankhamun's, which was also said to be in excellent condition. Also returned was a part of Tutankhamun's fan. One face is in good condition, but the other has been broken into 11 pieces and part of it is still missing. Egyptologist Hala Hassan, curator of the Tutankhamun collection at the Egyptian Museum, told Al-Ahram Weekly that a spell is said to have been placed on the trumpet, and that whenever anyone blew it, a war followed. A week before the revolution, during a documentation and photography process, one of the museum staff blew it -- and a week later the museum was broken into. A similar event took place before the 1967 war and before the 1991 gulf war, when a student was doing some comprehensive research on Tutankhamun's collection. Zahi , minister of state of the MSAA, said he was very happy about the recovery and called on all Egyptians to hand over to the MSAA any artefacts that they might come across. He declared an amnesty on all objects surrendered, and said the MSAA would offer a substantial reward for information and recovery. "If anyone is afraid of handing over such objects they can put them at the MSAA entrance gate or at the main door of the Egyptian Museum," said. He also stated that following the return of the objects, the number of missing pieces from the museum now stood at 33 from an original 54. announced that following restoration the restituted objects would be displayed in a special exhibition at the museum in celebration of World Heritage Day on 18 April. "This is a message to the world that Egypt is capable of protecting its antiquities," he said. told the Weekly that at his meeting with Field- Marshal Hussein Tantawi, commander of the Higher Council of the Armed Forces, it had been agreed to establish a special police force to protect museums and archaeological sites. This newly-created department would include a force of well-educated, armed guards trained by the National Security Forces to safeguard the sites and to deal with any further break-in attempts.
