Berlin 20-12-2009
Egypt has again asked for the return of Queen Nefertiti’s bust from a Berlin museum .
The 3,400 year-old limestone bust of Nefertiti was discovered in Egypt in 1912 at Tell el-Amarna, the capital city of her husband, Pharaoh Akhenaten. Its almond-like eyes, fine elongated neck, and Mona-Lisa like pensive stare have made this piece of antiquity draw millions of visitors from around the world.
It was found by a German – Ludwig Borchardt -who discovered the head in 1912 and had it shipped to Germany in 1913. However it now seems almost certain – after reading his diaries -this with done using deception in order to get it out of Egypt.
He had to pretend it was just some ordinary bust – pass it off as a less significant find -and with-hold its true significance as a major piece with great value. In fact the treasure was taken unethically – or in normal parlance – stolen.
It is expected that Egypt will make formal applications to ask for the return of the bust while the German Culture ministry will most likely reject the claim saying procurement of the bust was lawful at the time and that Egypt has no legal grounds to demand its return.
As in many cases like this – possession is nine-tenths of the law – and Germany refused to lend the statue back to Egypt temporarily in 2007, citing its “fragility”. In other words they were afraid that the Egyptians would “steal it back”!
There has as of yet been no comment from the Prussian Cultural Heritage Institute, which manages the museum regarding this particular issue.
The Egyptian request does not occur in a vacuum - the repatriation of Nefertiti is part of a larger campaign for the return of ancient treasures including [amongst others] the Rosetta stone, from the British Museum.
Egypt initially demanded the return of Nefertiti bust in 1925 during the Weimar republic, and Germany then did in fact later agree to hand it back to Egypt in 1935.
However Hitler personally interceded and stopped its return– so this means it’s probably a good idea to give it back now.
Loading ...
Seems like a shame to empty all the world’s museums and return the artifacts to their rightful owners (after all museums are there to bring foreign cultures to visitors of the museums) but perhaps this is the right thing to do.