Restoring the statue of his sister pharaoh Tutankhamun

Egyptian authorities are recovering the statue of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, stolen from the museum during the August riots.

The limestone statue of Ankhesamon is 32cm tall. Although there are three small cracks, most of the statues are in a well-preserved condition.

Ahmed Sharaf, the museum's director, said the statue needs a few restoration steps and will be displayed at a new museum for pharaoh Akhenaten's family members, the father of pharaoh Tutankhamun.

Picture 1 of Restoring the statue of his sister pharaoh Tutankhamun
Glass cases displaying antiques were smashed, hundreds of antiquities were stolen from the museum during the August riots in Egypt.(Photo: AP)

According to Sharaf, members of the Akhenaten family, who ruled the ancient Egyptian dynasty around 1,500 BC, will soon be reunited.

According to the BBC, the statue was stolen from Mallawi Museum on August 14, during the riots of ousted president Mohamed Morsi. Police tracked down a cafe owner at Khan el-Khalili market, the Egyptian capital and found the statue.

In a recent speech, Egyptian Minister of Art Mohamed Ibrahim said the statue is one of the museum's important antiquities.

About 1,050 artifacts were stolen from the Mallawi museum, in the south of the country, during the time of the riots. So far, about 800 of these have been restored.

Thousands of supporters of the ousted president of the Muslim Brotherhood Mohammed Morsi in August protested across Egypt, leading to violence that killed nearly 100 people, turning a part of Cairo into a battlefield.