Egyptian archaeologist urges German museum to return Nefertiti’s bust
Al Jazeera
Petition by ex-antiquities minister asks for return of bust, saying it was removed from Egypt illegally in early 1900s.
Prominent Egyptian archaeologist and former Antiquities Minister Zahi Hawass has launched a petition for the return to Egypt of the pharaonic bust of Queen Nefertiti from the Neues Museum in Berlin.
Nefertiti’s famous painted limestone bust was uncovered at Tell el-Amarna, about 300km (185 miles) south of Cairo, in 1912 by a German archaeological mission, which shipped it to Berlin the following year.
Amarna was the short-lived capital of Nefertiti’s husband, the 18th dynasty Pharaoh Akhenaten, who reigned until about 1335 BC.
Akhenaten, called the heretic king, was notorious for promoting the worship of the god Aten to the exclusion of Egypt’s other gods. His reign also introduced a radical change in Egyptian art.
In his petition launched on Saturday, Hawass asked for the return of the bust, saying it was removed from Egypt illegally after its discovery.
