Stolen fragments of the Great Pyramid of Giza (also known as Pyramid of Cheops) have been returned to Egypt, Art Daily has reported. The fragments were allegedly taken by German archaeologists last year.
German authorities returned the missing parts to the Egyptian foreign ministry last August, at the Egyptian embassy in Berlin. This week, according to the state news agency MENA, the Egyptian foreign ministry handed over the “samples stolen in the Cheops pyramid” to the antiquities ministry.
The former Egyptian antiquities minister, Mohamed Ibrahim, claimed last December that “German researchers, helped by an Egyptian guide, had taken samples of the stone, as well as fragments of a tablet bearing the name the Pharaoh of Cheops” from the pyramid, The Local reports.
The two accused researchers insist that they had been granted permission to visit the pyramid and take the fragments to Germany, where they were supposed to be analysized at a laboratory in Dresden to prove the theory that the pyramid was constructed over 15,000 years ago.
Despite pleading their innocence the pair were charged with removing pyramid samples in April 2013. The Germans were meant to appear alongside six Egyptians in a Cairo court on Sunday, but the trial was adjourned to November 8. One of the archaeologists, named Dominique Görlitz, labelled the case on social media as “unacceptable”.
The 146 meter (480 ft) pyramid of Cheops, popularly known as the Great Pyramid and built approximately 4,500 years ago, is considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.