Richard Whiddington, Egyptologists Call on British Museum to Return Rosetta Stone (Again), AetNet, 4 November 2025
The Rosetta Stone was taken from Egypt by British troops in 1801.
The long-awaited opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) in Giza has led to renewed calls for the British Museum to return the Rosetta Stone, the artifact that was taken out of Egypt by British forces in 1801 and proved key to deciphering hieroglyphs.
Speaking to the BBC, the former minister of tourism and antiquities Zaha Hawass, said it was time for Western European museums to make amends regarding their holdings of ancient Egyptian artifacts. “I want two things: number one, museums to stop buying stolen artifacts and number two, I need three objects to come back: the Rosetta Stone from the British Museum, the Zodiac from the Louvre and the Bust of Nefertiti from Berlin,” Hawass said.