[MSN] Spanish museum said to be exhibiting stolen Egyptian antiquity

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  Spanish museum said to be exhibiting stolen Egyptian antiquity


*MADRID, Spain:* A Barcelona museum of Egyptian artifacts on Wednesday 
denied charges that one of its statues may have been stolen from Egypt, 
a dispute that has prompted the Cairo government to dispatch experts to 
examine the piece as a possible step toward claiming it.

The limestone artwork — a 43-centimeter-tall (17-inch) depiction of a 
princess named Nefert — is on display at the Egypt Museum of Barcelona, 
which says it will return the piece if it turns out to have been stolen.

The charges come from a Spanish Egyptologist who used to work at the 
museum but left about two years ago, Ildefonso Falcones, the museum's 
lawyer, said in an interview from Barcelona.

When the archaeologist stopped working at the museum, she demanded 
payment of damages for alleged psychological abuse on the job. When the 
museum refused, she went to Egyptian authorities with her suspicions 
that the statuette was removed from Egypt illegally.

"She did it in revenge," said Falcones, who would not release her name 
and did not know the exact reason why she left the museum.

Falcones said the museum bought the statue legally from an art gallery 
in Switzerland about eight years ago. It was later brought to Spain, 
where it was declared to Spanish customs authorities.

Zahi Hawass, general secretary of the Superior Council of Antiquities of 
the Egyptian government, told The Associated Press in Cairo on Wednesday 
that he is sending a delegation of three experts to Barcelona next week 
to examine the statuette.

But he said the issue is whether the piece is authentic, not whether it 
was stolen, and that if it is real, Egypt will claim it.

Falcones insisted the statuette is real. "If not, why all the fuss?" he 
said, adding that the museum had not been contacted by the Egyptian 
authorities.

"At this point, we don't have any evidence of what the motives are 
behind these suspicions that it left Egypt illegally," said Falcones.

He said the museum has two signed documents from Barcelona judges 
affirming that all statues in the museum were acquired legally.

Falcones said that if it is shown the statuette left Egypt illegally 
before being purchased by the museum, the museum will give the piece 
back to the Egyptians.

http://www.iht.com/