According to Bloomberg the Egyptian request for the return of the Nefertiti bust to Egypt has been rejected by Germany on the grounds that the request was not sent to the government, but to Herman Parzinger, the president of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation in Berlin. It seems that the German government has decided that the request does not conform to required protocols and is therefore not official and will not be addressed.
The German government said it doesn’t view Egypt’s request as official, because the letter was addressed to Parzinger rather than the government.
“The government’s position on Nefertiti is well known and hasn’t changed,” Andreas Peschke, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, told reporters today in Berlin.
German Culture Minister Bernd Neumann has said that his country’s procurement of the bust was lawful and that Egypt had no grounds to demand its return. Germany refused to lend the statue in 2007, citing its fragility.
3 comments:
Good for them.
Agreed. So the fundamentalists can take over and destroy, like they did the Buddhas in Afghanistan? Keep the antiquities safe.
Zahi Hawass is a very determined man. However he must also realize that Germany has done much for Egypt.The Aswan Dam project was funded by the German government.And Germany gives them aid. Germany has kept Egyptian antiquities in good condition. If we look at the fragile state of Egyptian politics and the specter of Islamic militants....well wouldn't the antiquities be better off where they are?
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