Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
Arts & Entertainment
Met Returns King Tut's Bits To Egypt
By
Jamie Feldmar
Published Aug 3, 2011
Modified Aug 3, 2011
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Photo via National Geographic
View all 2
By
Jamie Feldmar
Published Aug 3, 2011
Modified Aug 3, 2011
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has returned a handful of odds and ends found in King Tut's tomb to their home in Egypt, after the museum determined that it had no rights to hang on to the antiquities.
“Because of precise legislation relating to that excavation, these objects were never meant to have left Egypt, and therefore should rightfully belong to the government of Egypt,” said Thomas P. Campbell, the director of the Metropolitan Museum, when the return was first announced last year. The 19 pieces, which include a small bronze dog and a collar of beads, were shipped out yesterday.
The objects came from the estate of archaeologist Howard Carter, who discovered the tomb in 1922 and bequeathed his findings to the Met. (Hey, at least he didn't get caught up in an illicit mummy smuggling ring.) “It was the right thing to do,” intentional art law expert Derek Fincham told WNYC, though he added, “I have a sense these are not objects that will be terribly missed." So those lines at the museum haven't been for a rare glimpse of Tut's tube socks?
Tagged
egypt
king tut
met
metropolitan museum of art
mummy
Jamie Feldmar
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE arts-entertainment
Banned books and Winnie the Pooh: October in NYC libraries
It's a busy month at the branches.
By
Alec Hamilton
Published Oct 4, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. ET
NYC music in October: The Strokes, a Blink-182 cover band, and Polish experimentalism
An excellent and diverse month of concerts are in store for October.
By
Hank Shteamer
Arts & Entertainment
NYC music in October: The Strokes, a Blink-182 cover band, and Polish experimentalism
An excellent and diverse month of concerts are in store for October.
By
Hank Shteamer
Are you a New Yorker? The Department of New Yorker Verification will now decide.
By
Hannah Frishberg
In the mood for a pastoral autumn experience? Try Queens.
By
Elizabeth Shwe
and
James Ramsay
October is spooky season at the movies in New York City
By
Emma Stefansky
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .