Message #115414

[Bianca]

Royal `Gift'



The stone, which provided the key to deciphering hieroglyphics, was discovered in Egypt in 1799. It is on display in London as a ``Gift of George III,'' according to the museum's Web site, referring to the British king at the time.

The British Museum's Board of Trustees is reviewing the request, says spokeswoman Hannah Boulton.

Egypt asked to borrow the works as part of a project to fill 19 new museums, of which the Grand Egyptian Museum will be the largest. The museum is under construction and is scheduled to open in 2012.

The country may need that long to bring Nefertiti and the Rosetta Stone back to Cairo, even temporarily.

It took two years of lobbying by Italy before the Getty Museum in Los Angeles returned 40 relics the Egyptian government said were looted.

Greece has been trying to retrieve the Elgin Marbles from the British Museum for 21 years. The large marble sculptures were removed from the Parthenon two centuries ago by Lord Elgin, the British ambassador to Greece at the time.