Kaaba Kiswa to be handed over to Egypt's antiquities ministry

Ahram Online (Nevine El-Aref)

With photos.

 Three months after the theft of two pieces of a 19th-century embroidered Al-Kaaba Kiswa (the Kaaba cover) from the mausoleum of Khedive Tawfik in Cairo's eastern cemetery, the Ministry of Religious Endowments (Awkaf) decided to hand the other exhibited pieces over to the Ministry of State for Antiquities.

These pieces are embroidered with calligraphy in gold and silver thread, similar to those that were traditionally sent by the Egyptian monarchy to cover the Kaaba in Saudi Arabia. They currently hang on the walls of the mausoleum.

Antiquities State Minister Mohamed Ibrahim told Ahram Online that although these pieces were not registered on Egypt’s list of antiquities, the antiquities ministry had agreed to receive them, per the request of Religious Endowments Minister Mohamed El-Qousi.