STORY: :: File
:: Egyptian archaeologist launches a petition for
return of a Queen Nefertiti bust from Berlin
:: Cairo, Egypt
:: September 7, 2024
:: Zahi Hawass, Egyptian archaeologist
“We are announcing today that Egypt – this is the national committee, it is not a government committee – is asking for the return of the bust of Nefertiti, and this is the letter, what I need from everyone here is to go to my website, you will just to open the website, hawasszahi.com, and you will sign, a signature, to show that you would love for this bust to come back.”
:: Berlin, Germany
:: Hawass says the artifact was illegal
removed from Egypt after discovery in 1912
:: His campaign also aims to give back
The Rosetta Stone and the Dendera Zodiac
Nefertiti’s famous painted limestone bust was uncovered at Tell el-Amarna, about 300 km south of Cairo, in 1912 by a German archaeological mission, which sent it to Berlin the following year.
Amarna was the short-lived capital of Nefertiti’s husband, the 18th dynasty pharaoh Akhenaten, who ruled until about 1335 BC.
In his petition launched on Saturday, Hawass asked for the bust to be returned, saying it was taken out of Egypt illegally after its discovery.
Hawass said he is not calling for the repatriation of artifacts taken out of Egypt legally. His campaign is focused on repatriating “three main beautiful objects” including the bust of Nefertiti, the Rosetta Stone and the Dendera Zodiac.
Officials at Berlin’s Neues Museum were not immediately available for comment.