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Should Germany return Queen Nefertiti's bust to Egypt?

2024-10-29 21:58:08Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Should Germany return Queen Nefertiti's bust to Egypt?
Nefertiti

Egypt is demanding the return of the world-famous bust of Queen Nefertiti, which has been in Berlin's New Museum for more than a hundred years. German officials dispute this and say the sculpture will remain where it is.

The value of the sculpture is estimated at 400 million euros and is one of the most famous artifacts of ancient Egypt. But since 1922, the 3,370-year-old bust of Queen Nefertiti has been in Berlin.

Now, not for the first time, there is a request from Egypt for Germany to return him. Zahi Hawass, the former Egyptian minister of antiquities, has been actively advocating for the return of Nefertiti since 2011. Recently, he intensified his involvement: he started a petition calling on Germany to return the famous bust, which is currently in the Neues Museum in Berlin.

"This bust, remarkable and unique in history for its historical and aesthetic value, is now in Germany, but it is time for it to return home to Egypt," the petition states.

A German archaeological team discovered the painted limestone bust in 1912 and sent it to Europe a year later. Nefertiti has become an important tourist attraction and for many, a self-evident part of Berlin.

Is Nefertiti a symbol of colonization?

The bust, which is believed to have been made in 1345 BC, is also called the "ambassador of Egypt". Egyptian archaeologist Monica Hanna sees it differently. "An ambassador means a diplomatic exchange," she told DW, but did Egypt get anything important in return, like "the crown of the Prussian king Friedrich the Great or some painting by Albrecht Dürer? I don't think so,” Hanna said. "If you send an ambassador only in one direction, he is a hostage."

Archeology has publicly called for the "decolonization of Egyptian archaeology". She claims that the initiative to return Nefertiti is causing resistance because "it would create a precedent that would pave the way for the return of many different objects taken during colonialism."

Hawass' petition is not just about Nefretite – he is also seeking the return of the Rosetta Stone and the Zodiac of Denderah, Egyptian antiquities located in France and the UK. The Rosetta Stone, on display at the British Museum in London, is an ancient Egyptian stone with inscriptions in several languages ​​and scripts, which served as the key to unlocking the secrets of hieroglyphic writing. The Zodiac of Denderah is a large stone diagram from an Egyptian temple dating from the mid-1st century BC and currently housed in the Louvre Museum in Paris.

Should Germany return Queen Nefertiti's bust to Egypt?

The Berlin museum says there is no reason to return

The Prussian Foundation for Cultural Heritage, which oversees Berlin's museum collections, has admitted in the past that there are stolen works of art in its collections, such as some bronze sculptures from Benin. Some then returned to Nigeria in 2022.

However, Nefertiti's bust is said to have been legally obtained from Egypt after it was discovered in the ruins of the city of Amarna, the short-lived capital under Pharaoh Akhenaten, Nefertiti's husband. After his death, the city on the east bank of the Nile was abandoned in 1335 BC.

"The bust of Nefertiti was found during excavations approved by the Egyptian Antiquities Authority," says Stefan Müchler, a spokesman for the Prussian Foundation for Cultural Heritage. "It arrived in Berlin based on the usual division of finds at the time which included many other items. The bust was legally removed abroad and there is no request for its return from the Egyptian government," he said in a written statement to DW.

Müchler refers to an agreement with the Egyptian authorities that provided for a 50:50 split of the approximately 10,000 objects found in exchange for financing provided by a German cotton and textile magnate, James Simon. German art experts say a representative of the Egyptian government selected half of the objects, while the other half was sent to Germany, including a bust that went on display at the Neues Museum a few years later.

The archaeologist claims that the bust was "stolen..."

Some dispute this presentation of events. Hawass writes that Nefertiti's bust "was brazenly stolen from Egypt by the Germans in 1913, when it was hidden and smuggled out of the country, despite laws prohibiting the export of 'extraordinary' archaeological finds from Egypt."

This Egyptian archaeologist claims that the German Egyptologist Ludwig Borchard, the leader of the excavations, took Nefertiti out of the country under false pretenses.

According to the website Returning Heritage, which reports on debates about cultural return, "the Egyptian state at the time had veto power over any item they deemed too important to leave the country." But it's possible that Borchard "misinterpreted the significance" of the bust, noted report author Lewis McNaught.

The removal of the Nefertiti sculpture came before the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922. The historic discovery prompted Egypt to revoke all rights "given to foreign scholars to take key finds home," McNaught said in the report. his.

The expert believes it is "highly unlikely" that Hawass will succeed in his campaign to return Nefertiti if he or the Egyptian authorities "present new evidence of deliberate deception".

"How the spoils of such excavations were distributed at the time is often (if not always) shrouded in mystery," Lewis McNaught told DW.


Në përputhje me standarded JTI

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