Sarcophagus, mummified remains returned to Egypt from UCC

University College Cork has confirmed the return of mummified human remains and other items from its heritage collection to Egypt, as part of a previously announced donation to the state.

The items also include a sarcophagus, a set of four canopic jars, and items of cartonnage (coverings) dating variously from about 500 AD to about 945 BCE.

The accessioning of the donation is ongoing and the process is expected to formally conclude next year.

UCC announced its decision to repatriate the objects in a statement two years ago.

It came into possession of the mummified remains by donation from the African Missions in 1928.

The mummy was in the care of the Department of Pathology before being put in to storage.

The objects' journey home to Egypt is being documented in 'Kinship’ a creative project led by artist Dr Dorothy Cross and creative producer Mary Hickson.

Dr Cross said the essence of the project is the return of the mummified body from Ireland to Cairo.

She said this mirrors "the tragic displacement and migration of thousands of people from their homelands today, linking one man through time".

The mummy, believed to be that of a middle-aged adult male who may have been a priest from Thebes, was transported from Dublin Airport on an Air Egypt flight to Cairo earlier this month.

The mummy was then taken to a museum in the city.

It is understood the mummy dates from the Ptolemaic period 305 BC to 500 AD.

The sarcophagus which contained the mummy dates from 300 years earlier than the body and was originally occupied by a higher-ranking man named Hor, relatives of whom are in the Museum of Egyptology in Turin, Italy.

Meanwhile, UCC President Professor John O’Halloran said that they are pleased to confirm this significant development in the ongoing donation process.

"I wish to thank both embassies in Dublin and Cairo, the National Museum of Ireland, the Egyptian Ministry for Tourism and Antiquities, and the Department of Foreign Affairs for their collaboration.

"I wish to express particular thanks to Mark Poland, UCC Director of Buildings and Estates, Margaret Lantry, UCC Curator, and John FitzGerald for their hard work in bringing the process to this point," he said,

The donation of the objects by UCC to the Egyptian state is a multi-agency collaboration involving the university, the National Museum of Ireland, the Egyptian Ministry for Tourism and Antiquities, the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs, and embassy staff in Dublin and Cairo.