Egypt to hold talks with Germany over disputed Nefertiti bust rights


Saturday, December 05, 2009

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Marwa Awad

Reuters

CAIRO: Egypt, in a diplomatic tug-of-war with Germany over the bust of Queen Nefertiti, will hold talks this month to try to recover the 3,400-year-old pharaonic treasure Egypt says was smuggled out of the country.

Egyptian antiquities capo Zahi Hawass told Reuters he will meet the director of the Egyptian Papyrus Collection at Berlin’s Neues Museum, where the bust is on display, on December 20 to resolve the row over Nefertiti, the mother-in-law of erstwhile Tutankhamun.

With her almond-shaped eyes and a swan-like neck, Nefertiti has caused a rift between the two countries, each of which is intent on having the bust that attracts millions of visitors worldwide.

“The only thing we are going to discuss is whether the director has any legal papers to show that the bust of Nefertiti left Egypt legally,” Hawass said. “All evidence that I collected until now shows the bust of Nefertiti left Egypt illegally.”

Hawass’ efforts to help repatriate Nefertiti are among the priorities of a campaign for the return of pharaonic treasures including the Rosetta Stone, presently housed in the British Museum, that Egypt says were plundered by a succession of foreign powers.

Hawass said German museum official Friederike Seyfried was expected to present evidence that the bust was acquired legally. Egypt will show how the bust was taken from the country after being passed off as a less significant find, he said.

German officials could not be reached for comment.

The bust of Nefertiti was found in Egypt in 1912 at Tell al-Amarna, the short-lived capital of the realm of Nefertiti’s husband, the 18th-dynasty Pharaoh Akhenaten. The bust later turned up in Germany.

Egypt would be willing to negotiate a deal to give Germany other Egyptian artifacts in return for Nefertiti, Hawass said, although he did not say which pieces might be on offer.

He said successive German governments have rebuffed Egypt’s demand for the return of the queen’s bust, one of the most reproduced images.

“I can negotiate,” Hawass said. “I am not against museums or having artifacts be shown to the public. I can send them artifacts in return.”

Hawass said Berlin has been reluctant to lend the bust to Egypt for display in its homeland, partly over concerns that Egypt lacked the facilities to house the valuable piece. Hawass said Egypt now had ample museums fit for unique artifacts, adding that he wanted to display Nefertiti in a newly completed museum in Minya in southern Egypt.

Hawass vowed to campaign for other important artifacts he said were illegally taken from Egypt. He said he would continue to push for the return of other artifacts including the Rosetta Stone, which carries an inscription in three scripts including Egyptian hieroglyphics and was the key to deciphering ancient Egyptian in the early 19th century.

Egypt is also seeking a statue of Great Pyramid architect Hemiunu from the Roemer-Pelizaeus Museum in Hildesheim, Germany; the Dendera Temple Zodiac from the Louvre in Paris; and Khafre Pyramid-builder Ankhaf’s bust from Boston’s Museum of Fine Art.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=4&Article_id=109425