Christie’s Auction House in the UK sold the 4000-year-old bust of Tutankhamun. The auction House sold Tutankhamun bust for almost 6 million $ along with 32 other Egyptian artifacts last week. Despite all the protests from the Egyptian Government. Egypt’s Ministry of Antiques tempted to the Auction House and UNESCO to postpone the sale in June and requested to see legal documents of the ownership and the sale.

Egypt Taking an Action

Egypt is taking action to sue Christie’s Auction House and asked the Interpol to interfere and track the Tutankhamun’s sold statue and the other artifacts.

Ministry of Antiques in Egypt ‘Khaled Al Enani’ stated that they will hire a British Legal Office to file a case against Christie’s Auction House. He also added that the sale is not legal as the Auction House didn’t verify the Ownership of the statue.

The Famous Egyptologist Zahi Hawas said that ‘I don’t think Christie’s have the papers to show it left Egypt Legally; it’s impossible’. He also added that ‘the selling of the Tutankhamun’s Statue is a dark chapter in the history of Christie’s Auction House as the head represents the civilization of the entire world’.

On the other hand, Christie’s announced that the sale was legal. Since they wouldn’t sell any piece with an unclear title of the ownership.

It is believed that the Statue was taken form Karnak Temple in Luxor along with other artifacts. That was taken at the same time from the temple around 1970.

Protests gathered outside Christie’s Auction House on the day of the sale. They were holding signs written on it ‘Stop trading in smuggled antiques’. All of the world many people are protesting against this sale.

In the past years Egypt has managed to recover hundreds of taken and stolen artifacts by cooperating with International Cultural Groups and Auction Houses.