A Bodybuilder’s 3,300-Year-Old Egyptian Stele Heads to TEFAF

A 3,300-year-old Egyptian stele once owned by bodybuilding pioneer Ben Weider is set to be a highlight at TEFAF New York this May. The limestone carving, which depicts Pharaoh Thutmose IV, was gifted to Weider in 1964 and recently surfaced at a Montreal auction before being acquired by the London-based gallery David Aaron. Alongside the stele, the gallery will present a 2,500-year-old greywacke bust of a goddess, which was recently authenticated after being dismissed as a fake due to its pristine condition and 18th-century restorations.

rodin egypt art collection show isaw

The Musée Rodin has brought Auguste Rodin's collection of ancient Egyptian art to the United States for the first time, in an exhibition titled "Rodin's Egypt" at New York University's Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW). The show presents about 60 objects across two galleries, including Egyptian artifacts Rodin collected from the 1890s onward, alongside a dozen of his own sculptures. Curated by Bénédicte Garnier and Roberta Casagrande-Kim, the exhibition highlights Rodin's deep engagement with Egyptian art and features loans from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as objects tied to the Brummers family of art dealers.

auguste rodin egyptian collection exhibition nyu isaw

A new exhibition titled “Rodin’s Egypt” opens November 19 at NYU’s Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW), exploring how ancient Egyptian art influenced Auguste Rodin’s sculptures. Guest curated by Bénédicte Garnier of the Musée Rodin in Paris, the show features 65 objects, including Rodin’s rarely seen assemblages that combine his plaster casts with Egyptian antiquities from his personal collection of over 1,000 Egyptian items. This marks the first US exhibition of Rodin’s Egyptian holdings.

Tefaf New York wish list: objects and treasures to suit every collector’s taste

Tefaf New York presents a curated wish list of objects and treasures catering to diverse collector tastes. Highlights include Lee Bontecou's monumental mixed-media sculpture 'Untitled (1980-2001)' shown by Ortuzar and Marc Selwyn Fine Art, a rare René Magritte collage from 1926 offered by Di Donna Galleries, an ancient Egyptian bronze Osiris statue from David Aaron, and an Aboriginal painting by Mantua Nangala from Salon 94. Each piece is accompanied by price estimates and provenance details, reflecting the fair's focus on high-quality, historically significant works.

ancient egyptian relief disappears saqqara necropolis

A 4,000-year-old limestone relief depicting the three seasons of the ancient Egyptian calendar has been stolen from the Saqqara necropolis near Cairo. The relief, measuring 16 by 24 inches, was cut from the wall of a Fifth Dynasty tomb belonging to high-ranking official Khenti Ka using an electric saw. Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities reported the theft on Sunday, and an archaeological committee has been formed to inventory the tomb's contents while the matter is under investigation by the Public Prosecution.

british museum lending program

The British Museum has launched a new long-term lending program, transferring some 80 Greek and Egyptian antiquities to the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS) in Mumbai, India, for a three-year exhibition. Director Nicholas Cullinan presented the initiative as a collaborative alternative to the contentious debate over repatriation, aiming to share artifacts with former British colonies without permanently deaccessioning them. The loans are part of a 15-year partnership between the two museums, and Cullinan has signaled plans to negotiate similar arrangements with China, Nigeria, and Ghana.

louvre staff vote with unanimity to strike

Louvre staff voted unanimously to strike starting December 15, following a meeting of 200 employees from three unions. The unions filed a strike notice with France’s Ministry of Culture, citing a museum in “crisis” with “increasingly deteriorated working conditions” and describing the visitor experience as a “real obstacle course.” The strike could force closures during the busy holiday period. This action follows a year of turmoil at the museum, including a January leaked memo from director Laurence des Cars warning of water leaks and overcrowding, a June wildcat strike over working conditions, and an October theft of $102 million in French royal jewels that exposed outdated security systems. Structural issues recently forced closure of the Sully wing, and a water leak damaged 400 books in the Egyptian antiquities library.

grand egyptian museum king tut treasures

The Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) in Giza has received another 163 artifacts from the tomb of King Tutankhamun, transferred from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo's Tahrir Square. This delivery includes the pharaoh's ceremonial chair, gilded footstool, canopic shrine, and jewelry, bringing the museum closer to staging the first-ever complete display of the boy king's treasures. The artifacts were transported with care and underwent condition reports at GEM's conservation labs. The final piece to arrive will be Tutankhamun's funerary mask, ahead of the museum's long-awaited grand opening on July 3.

amenhotep iii colossi of memnon restoration

Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities unveiled the newly restored Colossi of Memnon, two monumental quartzite statues of Pharaoh Amenhotep III, at the entrance of his 86-acre Luxor tomb site. The restoration, led by German-Armenian archaeologist Hourig Sourouzian and involving Waseda University, the German Archaeological Institute in Cairo, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, and the World Monuments Fund, began in 2006 after decades of damage from earthquakes, floods, and looting. The team cleaned, 3D-scanned, and reassembled the statues using original fragments and new additions, also uncovering nearly 300 other sculptures and fragments. The Colossi now stand 45 feet tall, with the pharaoh depicted in royal regalia alongside smaller figures of his wives.

National Assembly Unanimously Votes on Law for Restitution of Looted Colonial Works, but with Restrictions

L’Assemblée vote à l’unanimité la loi sur la restitution des œuvres pillées pendant la colonisation, mais avec des restrictions

The French National Assembly has unanimously passed a landmark law establishing a permanent legal framework for the restitution of cultural property looted during the colonial era. Moving away from the previous requirement for case-by-case legislation, the new law allows the government to return artifacts via decree following consultations with scientific and parliamentary commissions. This shift fulfills a long-standing promise to simplify the return of African heritage currently held in French public collections.

Limestone relief disappears from Egypt’s Saqqara necropolis

A rare limestone relief depicting the vizier Khentika painting the three seasons of the ancient Egyptian calendar has vanished from his tomb in the Saqqara necropolis. The tomb, discovered in the 1950s and used for storage until 2019, was found to be missing the relief by a British mission in May. Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities has announced the theft and referred the matter to the public prosecutor for investigation.

destroyed bunny museum receives gift rabbit sculpture

The Bunny Museum in Altadena, California, which was destroyed during the 2025 Greater Los Angeles Wildfires, has received a major donation in the form of a 14-foot-tall stainless steel sculpture titled "Scanner." Created by Chinese artist Jesse Zhao and donated by local resident Wesley Zucco, the 1,100-pound work was unveiled on February 20 as part of the museum's rebuilding efforts. The institution, which previously held over 45,000 rabbit-related items ranging from Egyptian antiquities to pop culture memorabilia, lost its entire physical collection in the blaze, though its live animals were rescued.

egyptian antiquities trafficker jfk airport prison sentence

Egyptian doctor Ashraf Omar Eldarir has been sentenced to six months in prison by U.S. District Judge Rachel P. Kovner for smuggling hundreds of ancient Egyptian artifacts into the United States. Eldarir was arrested in 2019 after importing over 600 artifacts without declaring them on customs forms, including a polychrome relief, Roman limestone pieces, gold amulets, and wooden tomb model figures dating to 1900 BCE. The largest seizure of smuggled antiquities at JFK Airport occurred in January 2020, when customs officers found 590 artifacts wrapped in bubble wrap and foam, with loose sand and dirt indicating recent excavation. Eldarir pleaded guilty to four counts of smuggling and used fake provenances—including forged documents and photoshopped photographs—to sell artifacts at U.S. auction houses.

Louvre staff vote to strike, citing failures of management and building maintenance

Staff at the Louvre Museum in Paris voted unanimously to strike, with rolling walkouts set to begin on December 15. The unions, representing around 200 employees, filed a strike notice with the French culture ministry, citing insufficient staff, technical failures, and the building's aging condition. They also criticized the museum's director, Laurence des Cars, for a top-down management system that ignores staff alerts. The strike follows a series of incidents, including the theft of the French crown jewels in October, a forced closure of the Campana Gallery due to structural issues, and a water leak that damaged hundreds of books in the Egyptian antiquities library.

UK Heritage Department feared ‘mass restitutions’ when Stone of Scone was returned to Scotland

Newly released UK government files reveal that in 1996, the Department of National Heritage strongly opposed Prime Minister John Major's decision to return the 13th-century Stone of Scone to Scotland. The department's cultural property unit head, Lynn Gates, warned that the return would set a 'precedent to mass restitution,' triggering claims from Greece for the Parthenon Marbles, Egypt for the Rosetta Stone and Sphinx's Beard fragment, and Nigeria for the Benin Bronzes, with fears of further demands from Ethiopia, India, Pakistan, and other nations. The internal memo criticized Major for failing to consult the department before agreeing to the transfer from Westminster Abbey.

egypt alexandria artifacts lifted sea

Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities recovered underwater ruins from a sunken city off the coast of Alexandria on August 21. Divers and cranes retrieved ancient statues, including royal figures and sphinxes from the pre-Roman era, such as a partially preserved sphinx with the cartouche of Ramses II. The site in Abu Qir bay also revealed limestone buildings, residential and commercial structures, a 125-meter dock over 2,000 years old, a merchant ship, stone anchors, and a harbor crane from the Ptolemaic and Roman eras. Tourism and Antiquities Minister Sherif Fathy noted that only specific material meeting strict criteria is brought up, with the rest remaining underwater heritage.

New rules on importing cultural artefacts create headaches at Tefaf Maastricht

The implementation of new EU regulations on the import of cultural goods over 250 years old is causing significant disruption at TEFAF Maastricht. Dealers and collectors are facing administrative hurdles, including difficulties obtaining mandatory EORI numbers and inconsistent enforcement by customs officials. These rules, which require extensive documentation for items originating outside the EU, have led to seized shipments and a general crisis of confidence among international exhibitors.

More than 160 Tutankhamun treasures have arrived at the Grand Egyptian Museum

More than 160 treasures from the tomb of King Tutankhamun have been transferred from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo to the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza, ahead of its long-awaited opening on 3 July. The items include a ceremonial chair inlaid with ivory and gold and an accompanying footstool decorated with gilded motifs. The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities states the move is part of a plan to display the entire Tutankhamun collection together for the first time. The famous golden mask and golden coffins remain at the Cairo museum for now and will be the last items moved.

Ancient artefacts from sunken city lifted out of Mediterranean near Alexandria

Ancient artefacts from the sunken city of Canopus, submerged off the coast of Alexandria, have been recovered for the first time in 25 years. During a three-day underwater heritage event (19-21 August), archaeologists lifted limestone structures, a quartz sphinx bearing cartouches of Ramses II, and a white marble statue of a Roman nobleman from the Mediterranean. The operation was led by the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology (IEASM) in cooperation with the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, with French underwater archaeologist Franck Goddio playing a key role. The finds are now on display in the exhibition 'Secrets of the Sunken City' at the Alexandria National Museum.

Discovery of ancient Coptic city ‘enhances our understanding of early Christianity in Egypt’

Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced on 24 July the discovery of an ancient Coptic city at the Ain Al-Kharab archaeological site in the Kharga Oasis, Western Desert. Dating from the third to seventh centuries, the site includes mudbrick residences, tombs, two churches (one basilica-style), and a mural of Jesus Christ healing the sick. The excavation was led by the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA).