Daily lens Report
Egypt’s antiquities ministry has announced the disappearance of a 3,000-year-old gold bracelet from the restoration laboratory of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
The missing artefact, described as a golden band inlaid with spherical lapis lazuli beads, dates back to the reign of Pharaoh Amenemope of the 21st Dynasty (1070–945 BC). The ministry confirmed the incident in a statement released late Tuesday but did not specify when the piece was last seen.
According to Egyptian media reports, the loss was detected during an inventory check ahead of the upcoming “Treasures of the Pharaohs” exhibition in Rome at the end of October. An internal investigation is underway, with alerts issued to security units across Egypt’s airports, seaports, and land borders. Officials delayed public disclosure to allow inquiries to proceed and are now conducting a full inventory of the laboratory’s collection.
The bracelet was originally discovered in Tanis, in the Nile Delta, during excavations in the tomb of King Psusennes I, where Amenemope had been reburied after his original resting place was plundered. Though modest in design, experts consider the object scientifically significant.
“While not the most spectacular in appearance, it is extremely important,” Egyptologist Jean Guillaume Olette-Pelletier explained. He noted that the bracelet’s gold alloy was crafted to resist deformation, while the imported lapis lazuli symbolised the divine attributes of the gods.
The Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square houses over 170,000 artefacts, including the famed funerary mask of Tutankhamun. The disappearance comes at a sensitive time, just weeks before the planned November 1 opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum, a flagship cultural project of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s administration.
Egypt has been actively repositioning itself as a global heritage hub. In 2021, the country staged an elaborate parade transferring 22 royal mummies, including those of Ramses II and Queen Hatshepsut, to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation in Old Cairo.
The antiquities ministry has yet to respond to media requests for further comment.
