Archaeology - Art collector loses lawsuit over ancient Egyptian coffin mask
An art collector from Rhineland-Palatinate has lost a lawsuit against the NRW state government over a 2000-year-old Egyptian coffin mask and a 3500-year-old brooch. The NRW Ministry of Culture was right to seize the coffin mask and brooch when they were imported into Germany, the Düsseldorf Administrative Court ruled on Friday. It could not be ruled out that both objects had been discovered during looted excavations in Egypt and then illegally taken out of the country.
The coffin mask is undoubtedly a national cultural asset of Egypt that falls under the Cultural Property Protection Act. According to the expert opinion, the mask was produced in a region that is now part of Egypt's territory and where looted excavations took place between 2011 and 2017. As the coffin mask was first auctioned in Paris in 2017, it was obvious that it came from looted excavations.
The plaintiff said that he had assumed that the mask had been in the private possession of a US American since the 1970s. The court took a similar view of the brooch. The plaintiff was 80-year-old Dirk Gemünden from Ingelheim in Rhineland-Palatinate. Together with his wife, he set up a foundation and the "Obentraut 3" museum, where the items were to be exhibited.
In spring 2020, he bought three art objects at an auction in the USA. Gemünden won the third object: In the case of an almost 2,500-year-old coffin plaque, he was able to prove that it did not fall under the Cultural Property Protection Act.
The 80-year-old said he was prepared to return the mask to Egypt and suggested that "before it disappears into some storage facility - like so many other objects - it should be exhibited in the museum until it is finally returned".
Judge Andreas Heusch was open to the proposal. The Cultural Property Protection Act expressly permits this, he said. The representative of the state said that they would be happy to pass on the proposal (Ref.: 1 K 4764/20, 1 K 4762/20, 1 K 4655/20).
Upon import in May 2020, the historical artifacts were confiscated by customs and then seized by the NRW Ministry of Culture on the basis of the Cultural Property Protection Act of 2016. In May 2021, the Federal Foreign Office informed the Egyptian embassy of this. The Cultural Property Protection Act is intended to help protect national cultural assets and prevent their illegal import and export.
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- The art collector's loss in the lawsuit over the Egyptian coffin mask and brooch highlights the importance of the Administrative court in upholding the Cultural Property Protection Act in Germany.
- In North Rhine-Westphalia, the Ministry of Culture successfully used the Administrative court to seize ancient artifacts that were suspected of being looted from Egypt, underscoring Germany's commitment to global justice and archaeology.
- While the 80-year-old art collector from Rhineland-Palatinate argued that he had purchased the mask in good faith, the Düsseldorf Administrative Court ruled that Germany's Cultural Property Protection Act demanded the return of the artifacts to their country of origin.
- The Egypt-Germany cultural dispute over the ancient Egyptian coffin mask highlights the complex issues surrounding the ownership and preservation of global historical artifacts, demanding ongoing dialogue and cooperation between Egypt and Germany in the fields of justice and archaeology.
- In the Rhineland-Palatinate town of Ingelheim, a museum showcasing ancient Egyptian artifacts would have hosted the contested mask and brooch, contributing to the appreciation of history and culture within Germany.
Source: www.stern.de
