13/05/2026
💰 A stolen Egyptian coffin was once sold for $4 million… but its journey didn’t end there. ⚰️🇪🇬
This extraordinary coffin belonged to the priest Nedjemankh and dates back to the Ptolemaic Period.
It measures 181 cm in height and 53 cm in width, covered in stunning gilded cartonnage — a material made from layers of linen and plaster. ✨
The coffin is decorated with sacred scenes and texts from the Book of the Dead, created to guide and protect the deceased in the afterlife. It also features powerful symbols like the winged goddess Isis, the winged scarab, and the god Horus 👁️🦅
In 2011, during the chaos Egypt faced, the coffin was illegally smuggled out of the country. Using forged ownership documents, it was sold to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York for nearly $4 million, where it was displayed in a special gallery. 😳
But Egypt never stopped fighting to bring it home.
After years of diplomatic and legal efforts, investigators proved the documents were fake, and in 2019 the coffin was finally returned to Egypt — back to the land where its owner once lived, died, and was buried thousands of years ago. 🇪🇬👑
Today, this masterpiece is proudly displayed at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Fustat.
If you ever visit Cairo, don’t miss the chance to stand before it and admire its incredible details up close. ✨