Those booking flights to Cairo will be able to view some of the country’s ancient pieces of art in their original surroundings in the future, after they were apparently stolen in the 1980s.
Paris’ Louvre art gallery has agreed to return a series of Egyptian friezes after buying them in 2000 and 2003, it has been revealed.
Disputes have arisen in the past between the French gallery and Egypt over the rightful owner of the pieces – which the former country claims were stolen in the 1980s before being sold to the Louvre.
Now, the French culture ministry has announced that the antiquities, which are believed to have come from a 3,200-year-old tomb in the Valley of the Kings near Luxor, will be returned to their home country.
However, he added that the pieces had not been bought by the Louvre in the knowledge that any theft took place.
Meanwhile, those currently looking forward to their holidays in Cairo can view a multitude of other treasures during their trip, including the ancient pyramids, the tombs of the pharaohs and the serene face of the stone sphinx.
Written by Nicholas Scott
