Switzerland Repatriates 2,000-Year-Old Egyptian Funerary Mask

Switzerland has returned to Egypt an ancient funerary mask dating to the Ptolemaic period, according to an announcement by the Embassy of Switzerland in Egypt on Facebook on 16 September, as part of an ongoing partnership between the two countries to safeguard cultural heritage and combat the illicit trafficking of antiquities.

The mask, which Swiss customs authorities seized in 2022, is believed to be more than 2,000 years old. Experts examined and authenticated the piece, confirming it as an Egyptian artifact from the Ptolemaic era, a period that began after the conquests of Alexander the Great and ended with the reign of Cleopatra.

The formal handover took place in Bern, the Swiss capital, where Swiss Federal Councillor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider presented the mask to Mohamed Nagm, Egypt’s ambassador to Switzerland. The artifact is now set to return to its country of origin more than two millennia after it was crafted.

The restitution is the latest chapter in a long-running collaboration between Cairo and Bern aimed at protecting cultural property and curbing the illegal trade in antiquities. Switzerland has returned roughly 80 cultural and archaeological objects to Egypt since 2011.

The return of the funerary mask underscores the two nations’ continued efforts to recover Egyptian artifacts that left the country unlawfully, and to preserve and repatriate elements of Egypt’s ancient civilization.