Egypt receives ancient stolen limestone relief

CAIRO – The Ministry of Antiquities says Egypt's embassy in London has received a limestone relief that had been stolen from Queen Hatshepsut's temple in Luxor.

Shaaban Abdel Gawad, general supervisor of the ministries antiquities repatriation department, in a statement that the ministry repatriated the relief in collaboration with the U.K.'s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the British Museum. Abdel Gawad says the recovery of the relief is "very important" especially since it will help in restoration work currently being carried out by a Polish archaeological mission.

He says the relief, which is carved in limestone and engraved with hieroglyphic symbols, was stolen from the temple in 1975 and smuggled out of the country.

Last year, U.S. officials returned dozens of illegally smuggled artifacts to Egypt, including a Greco-Roman style Egyptian sarcophagus.