France requests the Rosetta Stone from Britain… Who has the right to negotiate over Egyptian antiquities?

Negotiations continue between Britain and France over France’s request to borrow the Rosetta Stone, one of the most famous Egyptian artifacts on display at the British Museum, in exchange for the British Museum’s offer to loan the huge Bayeux Tapestry, on loan from France, next year.

France’s agreement to loan the archaeological textile was the start of negotiations and pressure from France, which included demands for reduced or free admission for French citizens. However, the most prominent demand was for the loan of the Rosetta Stone, which sparked widespread controversy and questions about the right of the two countries to negotiate over an artifact that originally belonged to Egypt.

Loaning artifacts

It all began with France’s agreement to loan the embroidered tapestry known as the “Bayeux Tapestry,” which dates back some 900 years. It depicts the Norman conquest of England in 1066 and is 68 meters long. The agreement included the transfer of artifacts from Britain to France for display, including the Sauton treasures and the Lewis Chessmen, which date back to the Middle Ages.

Demands for free admission

The Financial Times reported that French officials had pressed for two additional concessions: free or reduced admission for French citizens. British negotiators rejected this as “never going to happen.”

According to the American newspaper, such a move is unusual. French museums rarely grant free admission even to their own citizens. In contrast, the British Museum does not charge admission to its permanent collection, but does charge for special exhibitions.

Loaning the Rosetta Stone

The French negotiators had even greater ambitions. They demanded to borrow the Egyptian Rosetta Stone, the most famous artifact in the British Museum.

According to the website Art News, this proposal failed because the stone, which was seized by Britain after the French campaign in Egypt in 1801, is subject to a rule prohibiting its removal from the museum due to its importance. It is the key to deciphering hieroglyphics, which was used by French scholar Jean-François Champollion.

Petition in France

The loan of the ancient fabric to Britain has sparked widespread opposition in France. According to France 24, a petition to prevent its transfer had gathered more than 52,000 signatures by Friday.

Opponents justified their position with concerns about the safety of the fabric, describing the transfer as “a real crime against heritage.”

Official support

Despite the objections, a French official overseeing the loan process explained that the artifact is not so fragile that it cannot be moved. He defended the move, noting that French President Emmanuel Macron had agreed to loan the tapestry to the British Museum next year to celebrate Franco-British relations. Philippe Pellaffal, who is overseeing the loan, said no decision had yet been made on how the tapestry would be transported.

If the loan is approved, it will be the first time the tapestry has been on British soil in nearly a thousand years.

Previous demands

Macron considered the loan of the tapestry to be a reflection of Anglo-French friendship. Former British Prime Minister Theresa May first requested the loan in 2018. However, the move was repeatedly postponed due to concerns about the fragility of the fabric and the difficulty of transporting it.

The British Museum

The French request raises questions: Do Britain and France have the right to negotiate over the Rosetta Stone, an authentic Egyptian artifact? Can the stone leave Britain without Egypt’s consent?

Dr. Abdel Rahim Rayhan, member of the History and Antiquities Committee of the Supreme Council of Culture and head of the campaign to defend Egyptian civilization, answers these questions. He explains that the British Museum houses some 13 million artifacts collected by Britain since its founding in 1753 through purchases, excavations, gifts, and donations. This is in addition to what it acquired during the colonial period through illegal means.

He emphasized that “British colonialism, which spread across half the globe, facilitated the looting and transfer of antiquities. Without it, British academics would not have been able to build such a huge collection.”

The departure of the Rosetta Stone from Egypt

The British Museum houses more than 110,000 Egyptian artifacts, including prehistoric finds, ancient Egyptian artifacts, and Christian artifacts.

Dr. Rayhan points out that the fall of the French campaign to British forces in 1801 and the subsequent signing of the Treaty of Alexandria changed the status of the artifacts and manuscripts collected by the French expedition during its presence in Egypt. These treasures became public property and were seized by Britain. Among the most prominent of these was the Rosetta Stone, which was transferred to the British Museum in 1803.

An old alliance

According to Dr. Abdel Rahim Rayhan, the Rosetta Stone left Egypt as a result of an alliance between France, Britain, and the Ottoman Empire, of which Egypt was a part. He said, “The Rosetta Stone was officially transferred through an international treaty, but Britain’s military superiority at the time allowed it to plunder Egyptian antiquities unjustly.”

He added: “After Napoleon Bonaparte left Egypt, the Ottomans and the British attacked the French expeditionary forces in the Gulf of Abu Qir in March 1801. They seized all the antiquities collected by French scholars. After the defeat of the French and their retreat to Alexandria, they took with them a collection of Egyptian antiquities. Among them was the Rosetta Stone, which was deposited in a warehouse as part of the collection of French commander Jacques François Minot.”

As the British siege of the city intensified, Menou was forced to surrender on August 30, 1801. Under Article 16 of the settlement agreement, all artifacts in French possession, including the Rosetta Stone, were handed over to the British, who later transferred them to London.

Britain’s right to loan the Rosetta Stone

The archaeologist explained that the Rosetta Stone left Egypt during the period of Ottoman rule. Regarding Britain’s right to obtain it at that time, he said: “England’s taking of the Rosetta Stone from the French was acceptable to the Ottoman Caliphate, which controlled Egypt at the time. This was due to the alliance between the two countries at the time, which gave the latter permission to take spoils from the French army, including antiquities.”

Regarding the negotiations between Britain and France to transfer the Rosetta Stone without consulting Egypt, he added: “The stone was transferred under an official international treaty, and therefore Egypt cannot protest any action taken by Britain to lend it to any other country. This is because the international treaty does not grant intellectual property rights over antiquities.”

Intellectual property rights and international law

Dr. Rayhan pointed out that the international community has ignored the intellectual property rights of antiquities, which came into effect in 1995 and stipulate that permission must be obtained from the intellectual property owner and payment made for such use. He said: “They have ostensibly established international laws and agreements to preserve the stability of the international community. But in reality, they are legitimizing the acquisition of artifacts from countries with great civilizations, including Egypt.”

He added: “The international community ignored the inclusion of tangible heritage in the Intellectual Property Rights Agreement of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), affiliated with the United Nations. It was established in 1967 in Geneva after the Paris Conference on Industrial Property, and includes 177 countries, including Egypt.”

Exclusion of antiquities

A member of the History and Antiquities Committee of the Supreme Council of Culture revealed that the exclusion of tangible heritage from the international agreement stems from the desire of countries to keep artifacts looted from other countries, primarily Egypt, and display them in their museums without granting any material or moral rights to the countries of origin.

He explained that these countries, despite claiming “legal ownership” of these artifacts, promote them as Egyptian antiquities, which brings them huge profits estimated in the billions, whether from museum visits, temporary loans, or even the sale of replicas.

The Rosetta Stone and the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum

The demands to borrow the Rosetta Stone are not new. In 2009, informal negotiations began between Egypt and Britain to display it temporarily in Cairo.

According to a report published by the BBC in December 2009, Dr. Zahi Hawass, then head of the Egyptian Antiquities Authority, said: “I will give up the demand for the permanent return of the Rosetta Stone if the British Museum agrees to lend it to Egypt.”

Hawass added that, despite his desire to see the stone returned to its original home, he would be satisfied with a three-month loan, and wrote to the British Museum requesting that it be displayed temporarily to mark the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza in 2013. However, a spokeswoman for the British Museum said that Egypt had not submitted an official request for the permanent return of the Rosetta Stone, and that the request for a temporary loan would be discussed by the museum’s trustees.

The importance of the Rosetta Stone

According to the BBC, the importance of the Rosetta Stone lies in the fact that it bears inscriptions in three languages: hieroglyphics, Demotic (ancient Egyptian), and ancient Greek. The Greek text made it possible to decipher hieroglyphics for the first time, which opened the door to understanding the history and civilization of ancient Egypt.