Posted on 06/22/2007 2:33:41 PM PDT by blam
Egypt asks British Museum for Rosetta Stone
By Martin Bailey | Posted 21 June 2007
LONDON. The Egyptian government has made a formal request to borrow the Rosetta Stone from the British Museum (BM). A letter was sent last month by Dr Zahi Hawass, head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities.
The Art Newspaper can reveal that the request is for a three-month loan in 2012, for the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum, which is being built near the Pyramids. Until now, the BM has been able to fend off questions about the return of the Rosetta Stone, since there had been no formal request.
Whether the loan is eventually granted is expected to depend on three main factors. First, conservation, and whether the 1,680 pound stone could be at risk.
Secondly, if the Rosetta Stone can be lent in view of its iconic importance. It is probably the single most-visited object in the BM’s entire collection, attracting even more visitors than the Parthenon Marbles. The Rosetta Stone has been at the museum since 1802, and has only left the building twice—when it was evacuated during World War I and when it was lent to the Louvre for one month in 1972.
Finally, there will concerns over whether it would be prudent to lend to Cairo, because of possible pressure in Egypt to retain the stone or request its permanent return. After receiving advice on these points, the request will be considered by the BM trustees.
In March, Dr Hawass told The Art Newspaper that he intends to seek the loan of five key masterpieces from international museums. The others are the head of Nefertiti (Berlin Museums), the Dendera zodiac ceiling (Louvre), the bust of Hemiunu, builder of the Great Pyramid (Roemer and Pelizaeus Museum, Hildesheim, Germany), and the statue of Ankhaf, builder of the Khafre Pyramid (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston). “I will give guarantees for their safe return,” he promised.
A row has already broken out over Nefertiti, with the Berlin Museums arguing that the head is too fragile to travel. Dr Hawass warned last month that if the Berlin loan is refused, then “we will fight to bring back this bust for good”.
GGG Ping.
“Borrow”. Oh ya, you’ll get that back.
The people living in Egypt today are arabic they have no relation to the makers of the Rosetta Stone. If left to them they would never have made sense of the translation.
The people living in Egypt are blood descendants of the Pyramid builders. The religion and culture changed, not the people.
The people living in England are also blood descendants of the Pyramid builders.
It's a matter of mathematics. A blood line either dies out after a few generations, or it will spread geometrically. After a period of 2000 years, every single person on Earth will be a descendant of any blood line that has not expired.
So can we close that particular moronic argument, please?
Drew Garrett
Possesion is 9/10ths of the Law from what I recall. Tell the Egyptians to go pound sand.
Another question: Should the British return all the stuff they took from Greece as well?
That’s the thing about the BM, nothing in it is British.
So can we close that particular moronic argument, please?'
So George Bush descended from the Zulus, and Colin Powell from the Teutons. Gee thanks, I woulda never figured it out without your help.
“Can we borrow the Rosetta Stone back?”
“Uh.......NO!
Just the stuff they admit they stole.
Ie the parthenon marbles
(based on a firman which was presented as an incomplete English translation of an Italian translation of a recreated from memory “lost” Turkish document.)
It is pretty well documented.
Even the fact the British museum scraped off the paint, bleached the marbles and lord duveen’s copy making operation degraded the marbles every time he made a copy for sale to his rich friends.
The new museum is almost done in Greece so the british will no longer have the “safe placement” excuse too.
The British stole all that stuff fair and square, that’s fine. If they want to keep it, I’d suggest they not start loaning it out to the various nations/cultures who want it back.
Nothing of value should be “returned” to islam.
That's correct, and you're welcome.
Should you be sarcastic, I point you to the following papers:
Unpublished paper by Dr. Rohde of MIT
NAS Paper by Dr. Ohno (abstract only online)
Hope that satisfies your interest in the subject. If not, please show your math,
Drew Garrett
DNA tests of Tutankhamun and his presumed grandfather, Amenhotep III, were initially approved, but have now been halted by Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities. It was hoped that the tests would resolve a question regarding Tutankhamun's father. No reason has been given for the decision to stop the tests, but there is some concern that the results might be used to revise Egyptian history. The other recent news concerning mummies involves the use of computed tomography (CT) scanning to provide images of mummies without tampering with their wrapping. Nine mummies were scanned and the scans used to compute realistic 3D images of the individuals.
(This suggests something is amiss. blam)
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