The son of late Egyptian President Gamal Abdel-Nasser, Abdel-Hakim Gamal Abdel-Nasser, denied claims that his father had ever gifted away Egyptian antiquities to other countries.
During a phone interview with journalist Amr Adib on “al-Hekaya” (The Story) on MBC Egypt, he explained that the director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the 1950s offered to buy all the Nubian antiquities that would have been submerged by the Aswan High Dam.
He continued “The late President Gamal Abdel-Nasser said, ‘So they refused to participate in building the High Dam, and now they want to buy our antiquities?'”
Abdel-Hakim explained that Tharwat Okasha then presented a plan and an international campaign, sponsored by UNESCO, to save the Nubian monuments.
The campaign lasted for 10 years and cost US$80 million, equivalent to nine billion dollars today.
The rescue operation was miraculous, and the project was inaugurated in 1968.
He added “The donor countries stipulated that they would receive something in return for saving the Nubian monuments. An Egyptian committee was formed to select some dismantled pieces from the temples to be given to these countries, and on this basis, some countries received pieces from some of the temples.”
He also praised the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum, calling it well-organized and splendid – the culmination of decades of effort.
The event reminded him of the rescue of the Nubian monuments, he noted.
