Who Owns Tutankhamun?

Abstract

Abstract The chapter presents an overview of the history of antiquities leaving Egypt, both legally and illegally. In the early part of the nineteenth century almost anything could be taken out of Egypt, and this is when European museums such as the British Museum and the Louvre began building their impressive collections of Egyptian antiquities. In 1883, when the French were in control of the Antiquities Service, it was decreed that foreign excavation teams could keep a portion of the duplicates that they excavated. During this period of division of the finds, many American museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago built their collections. This policy of partage began to change shortly after the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb. It was a slow process, but in 1983, Egypt passed Law 117, forbidding the export of any antiquities. This chapter discusses the role of the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in this change.