Egypt is displaying a gilded ancient coffin returned to the country last week from New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art after U.S. investigators determined to be a looted antiquity.
The coffin once held the mummy of Nedjemankh, a priest in the Ptolemaic Period some 2,000 years ago. It was put on display on Tuesday at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Cairo.
U.S. Charge d’Affaires Thomas Goldberger attended the ceremony.
Antiquities Minister Khaled el-Ananni said the repatriation of this “unique, wonderful” artifact shows a “very strong solidarity” beteen Egypt and the U.S.
The Met bought it from a Paris art dealer in 2017 for about $4 million and made it the centerpiece of an exhibition. It was removed in February. The Met has apologized to Egypt.