A prominent Egyptian archaeologist and the country’s former antiquities minister has launched a petition for the return to Egypt of the pharaonic bust of Queen Nefertiti from the Neues Museum in Berlin.
Nefertiti was the queen of the 18th dynasty of Ancient Egypt, and was the wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten, who reigned until about 1335 B.C.
Her famous painted limestone bust was uncovered at the ancient Egyptian archaeological site, Tell el-Amarna, south of Cairo, in 1912 by a German archaeological mission.
It was shipped to Berlin the following year and has remained there ever since. Now archaeologist Dr Zahi Hawass has called for the return of the bust, saying it had been “brazenly stolen.”
Speaking to Egypts Al-Nahar TV, he said he would be launching the petition “in order to return the bust of Nefertiti to Egypt, which has been scientifically proven to have been stolen, and we have the right to recover it."
Adding to an earlier petition for the return of two other archaeological objects, he updated his website on Saturday, saying: “The Bust of Nefertiti was brazenly stolen from Egypt by the Germans in 1913 when it was concealed and smuggled out of the country despite laws that declared it illegal to remove ‘exceptional’ archaeological finds from Egypt.
“The Germans argue that they removed it legally because the French who ran the Antiquities Service at the time permitted them to.
“However, the Germans mislead (sic) the Antiquities Service as to the nature of the piece, downplaying its significance.”
The Antiquities Service is an Egyptian government body, which existed when the country was a British protectorate. It is responsible for the conservation and regulation of archaeological excavations in Egypt.
The archaeologists’ campaign also calls for the return of two other prized artifacts “whose significance to Egyptian history have no parallel.”
These are the Rosetta Stone, which is currently displayed in the British Museum, and the Dendera Zodiac in Paris’ Louvre.
“Museums that continue to display these artifacts and refuse to return them only continue to participate in imperialism,” the archaeologist said.
According to Reuters, officials at Berlin's Neues Museum were not immediately available for comment.
Her famous painted limestone bust was uncovered at the ancient Egyptian archaeological site, Tell el-Amarna, south of Cairo, in 1912 by a German archaeological mission.
It was shipped to Berlin the following year and has remained there ever since. Now archaeologist Dr Zahi Hawass has called for the return of the bust, saying it had been “brazenly stolen.”
Speaking to Egypts Al-Nahar TV, he said he would be launching the petition “in order to return the bust of Nefertiti to Egypt, which has been scientifically proven to have been stolen, and we have the right to recover it."
Adding to an earlier petition for the return of two other archaeological objects, he updated his website on Saturday, saying: “The Bust of Nefertiti was brazenly stolen from Egypt by the Germans in 1913 when it was concealed and smuggled out of the country despite laws that declared it illegal to remove ‘exceptional’ archaeological finds from Egypt.
“The Germans argue that they removed it legally because the French who ran the Antiquities Service at the time permitted them to.
“However, the Germans mislead (sic) the Antiquities Service as to the nature of the piece, downplaying its significance.”
The Antiquities Service is an Egyptian government body, which existed when the country was a British protectorate. It is responsible for the conservation and regulation of archaeological excavations in Egypt.
The archaeologists’ campaign also calls for the return of two other prized artifacts “whose significance to Egyptian history have no parallel.”
These are the Rosetta Stone, which is currently displayed in the British Museum, and the Dendera Zodiac in Paris’ Louvre.
“Museums that continue to display these artifacts and refuse to return them only continue to participate in imperialism,” the archaeologist said.
According to Reuters, officials at Berlin's Neues Museum were not immediately available for comment.
Source: Reuters, DW
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