http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/antiquities-minister-urges-egyptians-donate-buy-statue-33250636
Antiquities Minister Urges Egyptians to Donate to Buy Statue
Egypt's antiquities minister urged his countrymen Saturday to raise
nearly $25 million so that the country can buy back an ancient statue
sold by the English Northampton Museum to an unknown party.
Mamdouh el-Damaty said a British ban on the Sekhemka statue leaving the
country expires Friday, meaning it could end up in a private collection
unless Egypt can buy it. Northampton Museum sold the statue in an auction July 2014.
The sale is deemed legal in Britain. Egypt, home to a massive wealth of ancient antiquities, banned their sale in 1983.
"What this museum is doing is considered an ethical crime against human
and Egyptian heritage," el-Damaty told journalists in Cairo. These
pieces of history are given to museums "to spread information about
civilization, heritage, arts, and culture. Therefore, the final resting
place for any antiquity is the museum."
El-Damaty said this was the first time a known sale of an Egyptian
antiquity from a museum has taken place, adding that Egypt has halted
all dealings with the museum in protest of the sale.
The British government is trying to find a local buyer to be able to keep the statue inside the United Kingdom.
El-Damaty is urging Egyptians, especially those in England, to buy the
statue in order to have a say on where the statue ends up. He did not
say why the government didn't buy the statue itself.
The 4,000 year-old statue dates to Egypt's 5th Dynasty of the Old
Kingdom, the same period when the Giza pyramids were built. The statue
left Egypt in 1849, bought by the second Marquis of Northampton, Spencer
Compton, before Egypt banned the sale of antiquities. Campton's son
gave the statue to Northampton Museum.
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