The Netherlands has announced on Sunday 2 November its decision to return a 3,500-year-old stone bust to Egypt, a significant artifact from the reign of Pharaoh Thutmose III. This announcement was made by Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof during his visit for GEM to Cairo, where he met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi. The sculpture, believed to have been stolen and illegally exported during the unrest of the 2011 Arab Spring, was confiscated at a Dutch art fair in Maastricht in 2022. Dutch authorities acted on an anonymous tip regarding its illicit origin, leading to a joint investigation by Dutch police and the cultural heritage inspectorate, which confirmed that the bust had been unlawfully removed from Egypt. Following the inquiry, the dealer in possession of the piece voluntarily surrendered it. The Dutch government has stated that it expects to hand over the artifact to the Egyptian ambassador in the Netherlands by the end of this year, although a specific date for the handover has not yet been established. This return adds to a series of repatriations of Egyptian antiquities in recent years, which reflects a growing international commitment to…
Dutch Prime Minister Announces Repatriation of Ancient Egyptian Bust
November 3, 2025
By Belal Nawar
Senior Journalist
