The British Museum will participate in an ambitious €3.1m pan-European masterplan aimed at revamping and transforming the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square in Cairo, focusing on areas such as collection management, communications and audience engagement. But the 2,000-year-old Rosetta Stone, one of the British Museum’s most important exhibits, will not return to Egypt as part of the initiative, insist officials in Cairo and London.

The renovation project, entitled Transforming the Egyptian Museum of Cairo, is backed by a consortium comprising the Museo Egizio (Turin), the Louvre (Paris), the Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung (Berlin) and the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden (Leiden).

The scheme is funded entirely by the European Union (EU). Asked if such collaborations will continue if the UK leaves the EU on 29 March as planned, a British Museum spokeswoman says: “We would certainly hope to continue to participate in joint initiatives post Brexit; the majority of the work on this project will take place post 29 March. The museum works in collaboration with museums in Europe and across the world, and will continue to do so.”