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Germany returns a precious atlas to Egypt
Oldest atlas in history returned to Egypt.

4 August 2020
Last update:1 June 2024
Germany returned to Egypt a precious atlas which had been stolen from the Egyptian National Library and Archives. This book, called "Raif Efendi, Mahmud - Cedid Atlas", is an atlas published at the beginning of the 19th century and is said to have been one of the first printed in the Islamic world. On 29 October 2019 the German Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas handed over the book to the Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and to the Egyptian Culture Minister Ines Abdel Dayem in Cairo.