Former Antiquities Minister Zahi Hawass has launched a petition to request the return of the pharaoh, which is currently housed in the Neues Museum in Berlin.
Believed to have been created in 1345 BC, a German archaeological team discovered the painted limestone statue in 1912 and sent it to Europe a year later.
It emerged from the ruins of the city of Amarna, a short-lived capital under Nefertiti’s husband, Pharaoh Akhenaten. The city was abandoned after his death in 1335 BC.
Amarna sits on the east bank of the Nile River and is located in Minya province.
What does the application say?
Hawass asked for the return of the bust, which was illegally removed from Egypt after its discovery more than a century ago.
“We announce today that Egypt — this is a national committee, it’s not a government committee — is asking for the return of the statue of Nefertiti,” Hawass said.
“I need everyone here to go to my website…hawasszahi.com, and you sign one, to show that you would like this bust back.”
Hawass said he is not calling for the return of artifacts legally taken from Egypt.
His campaign focused on the return of “three major beauties”, including the statue of Nefertiti, the Rosetta Stone and the Dendera Zodiac.
The Rosetta Stone is an ancient Egyptian stone with inscriptions in many languages and scripts, leading to the understanding of hieroglyphic writing. It is currently on display at the British Museum in London.
The Zodiac of Dendera is a large stone figure from a mid-1st century BC temple in Egypt, now in the Louvre in Paris.
What does Germany say about the bust?
The German side says that Egypt has authorized Germany to begin excavations to locate its museums in Berlin.
According to German art experts, the deal involved a 50:50 split of nearly 10,000 works of art acquired in exchange for a loan by German cotton and textile magnate and arts patron James Simon.
A representative of the Egyptian government selected half of the objects, while the other half was taken to Germany, including the bust, which was displayed in the Neues Museum many years later and has become a major tourist attraction.
A row between Germany and Egypt, then a British protectorate, soon erupted over who should keep the sculpture.
During World War II, the statue was hidden and, towards the end of the conflict, it was moved to the Egyptian Museum in West Berlin where it remained until it was returned to the Neues Museum in 2009.
For several decades, Cairo has repeatedly called for the bust’s return, accusing German Egyptologist Ludwig Borchardt, who led the excavations, of smuggling it out of the country.
Berlin’s Neues Museum was not immediately available for comment on the petition when asked by Reuters news agency.
An exhibition at the Neues Museum in Berlin in April marked the statue’s 100th anniversary.
mm/rm (EFE, Reuters, DW source)
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