Ancient artefacts have been found in a museum in Alexandria. The artefacts were most likely hidden during the second world war.

On Wednesday, the Egyptian Ministry of Antiques announced that hundreds of pots and artefacts, dating from the Greco-Roman, Coptic and Islamic eras, were discovered in a hiding place "most likely" from the Second World War inside a museum in Alexandria.

The ministry announced in a statement that these antiques were discovered "during restoration work" in the interior garden of the Greco-Roman Museum of Alexandria in northern Egypt.

They "were most likely hidden by (British) archaeologist Alan Rowe and museum staff in the museum's garden during the Second World War, between 1939 and 1945," said Ayman Ashmawi, head of the Egyptian Antiquities Sector.

According to him, it was "to protect them against repeated looting and bombing during the war".

The statement also said that the antiques were hidden "quickly" and they were not listed on the museum's list.

"The hiding place contains a collection of pottery of different sizes and shapes," said Nadia Khadre, head of the Central Department of Egyptian and Greco-Roman Antiquities.

Among them, there are funerary urns, called "Hidari", intended to contain the ashes of the dead after their cremation in the Greek period.

Containers, pots, dishes and crockery from the Greco-Roman and Byzantine eras have also been found.