HISTORY :: File
:: Egyptian archaeologist launches petition for
Return of a bust of Queen Nefertiti from Berlin
:: Cairo, Egypt
:: September 7, 2024
:: Zahi Hawass, Egyptian archaeologist
“We are announcing today that Egypt – this is the national committee, this is not a government committee – is requesting the return of the Nefertiti bust, and here is the letter, what I need from everyone here is to go to my website, you just have to open the website, hawasszahi.com, and you will sign, just one signature, to show that you would like this bust to come back.”
:: Berlin, Germany
:: Hawass says the artifact was illegally
removed from Egypt after its discovery in 1912
:: His campaign also aims to bring back
The Rosetta Stone and the Dendera Zodiac
The famous painted limestone bust of Nefertiti was discovered at Tell el-Amarna, about 300 km 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 around 1335 BC.
In his petition launched on Saturday, Hawass called for the bust to be returned, saying it was illegally removed from Egypt after its discovery.
Hawass said he is not calling for the legal repatriation of the art objects taken out of Egypt. His campaign focuses on the repatriation of “three main beautiful objects,” including the bust of Nefertiti, the Rosetta Stone and the Dendera Zodiac.
Officials at the Neues Museum in Berlin were not immediately available for comment.
