An Egyptian archaeologist has demanded the return of Nefertiti’s bust from Germany.
Renowned expert, Zahi Hawass, has launched a petition demanding the return of the iconic 3,000-year-old bust of Queen Nefertiti to Egypt.
The bust, currently displayed at the Neues Museum in Berlin, Germany, was discovered by a team of German archaeologists in 1912 and sent to Europe shortly after.
Hawass argued that the sculpture left Egypt illegally and belongs in its country of origin.
The petition, which has already garnered nearly 2,000 signatures, calls for the bust’s return as part of Egypt’s ongoing effort to reclaim its historical artefacts.
In a statement to NBC News, Hawass, a former Egyptian Minister of Antiquities, claimed that “This bust left Egypt illegally,” and reiterated the piece’s unparalleled historical and aesthetic value.
The painted limestone bust of Queen Nefertiti was found in Tell el-Amarna, the former capital of her husband, Pharaoh Akhenaten.
The sculpture was taken out of Egypt in 1913 and later hidden during World War II.
After the war, it was transferred to the Egyptian Museum in West Berlin and, in 2009, it was moved to the Neues Museum, where it remains one of the museum’s main attractions.
While Hawass praised the German government for preserving the bust, he said that it was time for it to return to its rightful home.
“This bust, unparalleled in history for its historical and aesthetic value, is in Germany, but it’s time for it to return to Egypt,” he stated in a release on September 7.
Express.co.uk has contacted the Neues Museum for comment.
This is not the first time Egypt has sought the return of its ancient treasures.
In 2021, the country successfully recovered over 5,000 stolen artefacts from around the world.
More recently, in January 2023, the Houston Museum of Natural Science returned a 2,000-year-old wooden sarcophagus after US authorities determined it had been illegally removed from Egypt.
Despite these efforts, Egypt has not always been successful in reclaiming its cultural heritage.
In 2022, another petition to return the Dendera Zodiac from the Louvre in Paris gathered over 2.2 million signatures, but the artefact remains in France.
