It was formed from the
Supreme Council of Antiquities in 2011 during the presidency of
Hosni Mubarak to deal with the security and theft of Egyptian
antiquities.
Grave robbers have been looting ancient Egyptian tombs nearly continuously for well over 4,000 years. The Ministry of Antiquities works to get the items restored back to Egypt, whenever possible. Over the years, thousands of stolen antiquities have made their way back to Egypt. For instance, in late 2016, the ministry recovered and repatriated two of four
Islamic era lamps which had been stolen in 2015. In 2018, a carving in the shape of Osiris which had been hidden in furniture and shipped to Kuwait was repatriated to Egypt's Ministry of Antiquities. In 2023, the ministry prohibited a group of archaeologists from the
National Museum of Antiquities in
Leiden,
Netherlands from conducting excavations in
Saqqara after the museum unveiled an exhibit about
ancient Egyptian music that Egyptian authorities criticized for its
Afrocentric depictions of certain figures, claiming it was
historical negationism. ==Projects==