Friday, December 19, 2008

Egyptian-German committee is looking into the case of a statue of Nefertiti

The Egyptian Gazette

N.B. story will expire in the next few days on the above address.

AN Egyptian-German committee is looking into the case of a statue of Queen Nefertiti, the wife of the monotheistic Akhenaten, which is currently in Germany. The plan is to have the statue transferred to el-Tawhid Museum, in Minya, about 240km south of Cairo, when it opens next year.

In 1912, a team of German archaeologists found the statue of Queen Nefertiti, made of limestone. They were given the precious antiquity under the law at the time that permitted the finders of ancient monuments to have a share in them.

The head of the German Institute of Archaeology says that the German members of the committee will let their Egyptian counterparts know whether the statue can be transferred in time for the opening ceremony or not.El-Tawhid Museum will also include monuments related to Akhenaten.


See the above page for more. I'll believe it when I see it happen :-).

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Couldn't get the link to work, so I was wondering if the article states whether the statue is going back for good or just on loan? Knowing Hawass, once it gets inside Egypt, he'll make sure it doesn't leave again! :)

Andie said...

Hi Patricia. I've checked the article and it doesn't actually say. What it does say is that he has asked Germany, France and the UK for other items to be loaned to Egypt, so the implication is that he wants it on loan for the opening ceremony. Hawass has addressed the fear expressed by a number of people that once Egypt has the items it will hold on to them by making public assurances that if he takes them on loan he will give them back. I don't know how institutions regard these assurances. It would seriously undermine Egypt's negotiating position for just about anything if they reneged on any agreement and whatever Hawass thinks or wants I would imagine that the Egyptian government would be very wary of alienating other nations's governments. We'll just have to wait and see :-)

Anonymous said...

The bust should never leave German soil as should pother Egyptian artifacts such as the Roseta stone in the British Museum. Zahi Hawass is a pompous prat who will find some reason or other not to return the artifact or other artifacts that he wants his grubby hands on. If he keeps the bust of Nefertiti the idea will set in that only Egypt can
keep Egyptian artifacts.No research can be done on them by Foreigners. According to Tiffany Jenkins of Institute of Ideas, the return and possible refusal to return by that fat turd Zahi Hawass will give the idea that only certain people can perform research and giv ethe impression that we are all unrelated in some way.Read her thoughta at http://www.tiffanyjenkins.blogspot.com.

Anonymous said...

The bust should never leave German soil as should pother Egyptian artifacts such as the Rosetta stone in the British Museum. Zahi Hawass is a pompous prat who will find some reason or other not to return the artifact or other artifacts that he wants his grubby hands on. If he keeps the bust of Nefertiti the idea will set in that only Egypt can
keep Egyptian artifacts. No research can be done on them by Foreigners. According to Tiffany Jenkins of the Institute of Ideas, the return and possible refusal to return by that fat turd Zahi Hawass will give the idea that only certain people can perform research and give the impression that we are all unrelated in some way.