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Missing Akhnaten statue found, returned by AUC professor The limestone statue of the monotheistic king Akhnaten, was found beside a trash can at Tahrir square by a young man, then return to the Egyptian Museum by his uncle, an AUC professor
It seems there's good news in the Antiquities field these days. The painted limestone statue of king Akhnaten, father of the boy king Tutankhamun, has been returned to the Egyptian museum after a two week disappearance. Following a press conference held on Wednesday at the Egyptian Museum to announce the return of a part of goddess Nikrit's statue, Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs Zahi Hawwas, received news that the limestone statue of king Akhnatun has been found. The statue is one of the unique statues of King Akhnaten's collection on display at the museum. It depicts King Akhnaten standing wearing a crown and holding an offering in his hands. Hawass stated that the statue was found next to a trash can by a sixteen-year-old boy who was one of the protestors at Tahrir square. He took the statue home and when his mother saw it she called her brother, Sabri Abdel Rahman, a professor at AUC, who in turn called the Ministry of State for Antiquities Affairs to return the statue. Last night at the Antiquities and Tourism Police station at Cairo Opera House, an archaeological committee headed by Youssef Khalifa, director of the stolen antiquities department at the ministry, received the statue intact, except for the offering table, which was found separately inside the museum. The committee had also confirmed the authenticity of the statue and that it was the actual missing one. Tarek El-Awadi, director general of the Egyptian Museum, said the statue, which is seven centimeters tall and erected on an alabaster base, will be subjected to restoration in order to display it in its permanent location at the museum's Amarna collection hall. After discussing security measures, the Antiquities and Tourism Police announced that the museum is expected to re-open on Saturday, along with the Giza plateau and archaeological sites in Luxor . With the return of the statue, only four of eight Museum artefacts remain missing since the clashes on 28 January.
