France’s Louvre said on Wednesday it was open to the idea of returning Pharaonic steles that Egypt has alleged the museum bought despite knowing they were stolen.
The move came after Cairo said it had cut all cooperation with the Louvre until the antiquities are returned, in the latest row involving the exhibits of a major European institution.
French sources said the antiquities Egypt was demanding were decorative fragments from a tomb in the Valley of the Kings near Luxor, which had been acquired in a “transparent” manner by the Louvre. — AFP