A 3,000-year-old gold bracelet disappears from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

A 3,000-year-old gold and lapis lazuli bracelet has disappeared from a restoration laboratory at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo , Egyptian authorities have said. They have not specified how long the jewel, dating from the reign of Amenemope , pharaoh of the 21st Dynasty (1070-945 BC) during the Third Intermediate Period, has been missing.

Egyptian media reported that the loss was discovered in recent days during an inventory inspection ahead of the "Treasures of the Pharaohs" exhibition, scheduled for Rome in late October.

An internal investigation has been launched , and antiquities units at all Egyptian airports, seaports, and land border crossings have been alerted, according to the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

The case was not immediately announced to allow for further investigation, and a full inventory of the lab's contents is being conducted, he added.

According to Egyptologist Jean Guillaume Olette-Pelletier, the bracelet was discovered at Tanis , in the eastern Nile Delta, during archaeological excavations at the tomb of King Psusennes I , where Amenemope had been reburied following the looting of his original tomb.

"It's not the most beautiful object, but scientifically it's one of the most interesting," the expert, who worked in Tanis, told AFP.

He added that the bracelet had a fairly simple design, but was made of a gold alloy designed to resist deformation. While the gold represented the "flesh of the gods," he explained, the lapis lazuli, imported from what is now Afghanistan, evoked their hair.

The Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square houses more than 170,000 artifacts , including the famous golden funerary mask of King Amenemope.

The disappearance comes just weeks before the planned November 1 opening of the long-awaited Grand Egyptian Museum .

One of the museum's most iconic collections—the treasures from King Tutankhamun 's tomb—is being prepared for relocation ahead of the opening, which is considered a major cultural milestone under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

In 2021, Egypt held a high-profile parade for the transfer of 22 royal mummies, including those of Ramses II and Queen Hatshepsut, to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Old Cairo, as part of a broader effort to boost Egypt's museum infrastructure and tourist appeal.