Egypt’s antiquities ministry has announced that a 3,000-year-old gold bracelet has disappeared from the restoration laboratory of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
The missing artefact, a golden band decorated with spherical lapis lazuli beads, dates back to the reign of Amenemope, a pharaoh of Egypt’s 21st Dynasty (1070–945 BC). The ministry did not specify when the bracelet was last seen but said the disappearance came to light during a recent inventory check.
Local media reported that the loss was detected ahead of preparations for the Treasures of the Pharaohs exhibition due to open in Rome at the end of October.
Authorities have launched an internal investigation, while antiquities units at airports, seaports and land crossings nationwide have been alerted. Officials initially withheld the news to allow inquiries to proceed, and a full inventory of the lab is underway.
Jean Guillaume Olette-Pelletier, an Egyptologist who has worked in Tanis where the bracelet was unearthed, said the piece was discovered in the tomb of King Psusennes I, where Amenemope had been reburied. Though modest in design, the bracelet is regarded as scientifically significant, crafted from a gold alloy resistant to deformation and adorned with lapis lazuli imported from Afghanistan.
The disappearance comes as Egypt prepares to inaugurate the Grand Egyptian Museum on 1 November. The new museum, touted as a cultural landmark, will house iconic treasures including Tutankhamun’s collection.
The Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square holds more than 170,000 artefacts, including Amenemope’s famed funerary mask.