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Major pieces stolen from Egypt museum: minister

By 이우영
Published : Feb. 14, 2011 - 16:42

CAIRO - Several major pieces have been stolen from the Egyptian museum, including a statue of King Tutankhamun, Egypt's minister of state for antiquities Zahi Hawass said on Sunday.

The objects missing from the famed museum included "a gilded wood statue of the 18th Dynasty king Tutankhamun being carried by a goddess" and parts of "a gilded wood statue of Tutankhamun harpooning," Hawass said in a statement.


This undated photo released by the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities shows a gilded wooden statue of King Tutankhamun harpooning. (AP-Yonhap News)


Looters broke into the museum in Cairo's Tahrir Square on January 28 when massive protests against then-president Hosni Mubarak drove his despised police from the streets in a series of running battles.

Also missing are a limestone statue of Akhenaten holding an offering table, a statue of Queen Nefertiti making offerings, a sandstone head of a princess from Amarna -- a vast archaeological site in the southern province of Minya.

A stone statuette of a scribe from Amarna, and eleven wooden shabti statuettes of Yuya, a powerful Egyptian courtier from the 18th Dynasty which ruled Egypt 3,000 years ago, were also missing Hawass said.

A heart scarab -- an amulet placed on the chest of the mummy to ensure the heart was not removed -- belonging to Yuya was also missing, he added.

Founded in 1858 by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette, the museum contains more than 100,000 Egyptian artefacts, including the world renowned -- and reputedly cursed -- treasures from King Tutankhamun's tomb.

The best known artefact is the teenage monarch's gold funerary mask, which stares out from a case on the first floor of the museum.

Hawass said an investigation has been launched to find those behind the theft. "The police and army plan to follow up with the criminals already in custody," he added.

The museum was protected by army tanks and for a while by a cordon of citizen volunteers during nearly three weeks of anti-government rallies that ousted president Hosni Mubarak and left at least 300 dead.
(AFP)

 



"이집트박물관, 투탕카멘像 도난"

(카이로 AFP=연합뉴스) 이집트 반정부 시위로 인한 혼란을 틈타 투탕카멘왕 상(像) 등 주요 유물이 도난당했다.

이집트 유물위원회(문화재청) 자히 하와스 위원장은 이집트박물관에 소장돼 있던 유물 18점이 지난달 28일 도난당했다고 이날 자신의 블로그를 통해 밝혔다.

도난 유물은 투탕카멘왕 금박 목상 2개와 네페르티티 왕비상, 아케나톤(아멘호 텝 4세) 석회석상, 아마르나 공주 사암 두상과 그밖에 석.목재 부장품 12건 등이다.

도난당한 투탕카멘왕 상 1점은 여신의 머리 위에 앉아 있는 모습이며 나머지 1점은 작살을 들고 있는 입상이다. 작살을 든 투탕카멘왕 상은 상반신이 없어지고 하반신만 남았다.  

파악된 바로는 범인들은 로프를 타고 지붕을 통해 박물관으로 침입, 유물을 훔친 후 화재 비상구를 통해 빠져나갔다.

이들은 금제 유물을 훔치려고 전시관을 뒤졌으나 찾지 못했으며 이 과정에서 이시스 여신상과 일부 미라가 훼손됐다.

군과 경찰은 이미 검거된 유물범 등을 대상으로 수사를 벌일 계획이라고 하와스 위원장은 전했다.

(연합뉴스)

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