Speaking in his offices, amid piles of Pharaonic books, museum records and archaeological dig requests, Zahi Hawass, the head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, said he would not be swayed by the British Museum's refusal to return the item, which he considers the "icon of Egyptian identity".
Dr Hawass, who will meet egyptologists in London, has been encouraged in his campaign by his success in securing the return of five ancient fresco fragments from the Louvre in Paris . Dr Hawass is also pursuing the return of the Queen Nefertiti bust from Neues Museum, Berlin, the Dendera Zodiac from the Louvre and a bust of the pyramid builder Ankhaf from the Boston Museum of Fine Art.
Dr Hawass, 52, said he has an "entire department" working to uncover evidence of other stolen Egyptian antiquities.
"We have evidence, direct evidence, that proves exactly what was stolen. For all of our history our heritage was stolen from us. It is important for Egyptians that it is returned," he said.
England does not truly value the Rosetta Stone, he said. "They kept it in a dark, badly lit room until I came and requested it. Suddenly it became important to them."
The Rosetta Stone has been on display in the British Museum since 1802. Three translations of the same text on the 2,200-year-old tablet provided the key to deciphering Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs - and earned the artefact a place in popular culture as the key for unlocking any mystery.
Discovered by Napoleon's army in 1799, the stone was handed over to England as part of the Treaty of Alexandria in 1801.
Dr Hawass first demanded the return of the stone in July 2003. After a series of negotiations, the British Museum sent Cairo a replica of the stone in November 2005. The museum said yesterday it would not return the original item.
"The trustees feel strongly that the collection must remain as a whole," it said.
European curators have voiced concern privately that the items in Egyptian museums are not properly maintained and protected. On a recent visit to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo tourists could be seen reaching out to touch items that lay exposed in crowded exhibit rooms.
Samuel Mendes, an American tourist, said he was shocked at how close he could get to some of the items. "So many of the rooms didn't have guards, and I could have touched so many of the things so easily. We didn't but some of the kids did and it was very upsetting."
Dr Hawass said that Egypt is in the midst of a revolution that will make the museum in Cairo "one of the best in the world". Egypt has spent more than one billion Egyptian pounds (£110 million) on cultural heritage sites, he said, but pillaging by colonial powers has left it with second-rate exhibits.
He said that he has been personally responsible for the return of more than 5,000 items to Egypt since he became head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities in 2002.
"Hawass is a formidable man. Everything goes through him, and he has made sure that he has complete control," said one nervous visitor, waiting to see him about a travelling exhibit to the US.
The Rosetta Stone was not 'handed over to England'. The British, who were fighting the French for Egypt, took the Stone from defeated French forces as part of their 'spoils of war'.
The looters became the looted, in other words, and the Rosetta Stone is loot!
Typical disinfo from the Times, to imply that it was a 'gift'; it was never any such thing.
Samuel Mendes has obviously never heard of Theodore Davies! And there are multi-lingual signs all around the rooms in Cairo museum asking people not to touch the exhibits; perhaps Mr Mendes can't read!
I'm no big fan of Zahi Hawass, but I hope he succeeds in getting the Stone returned to where it belongs - in Egypt!
OK, rant over...