Petition by ex-antiquities minister asks for the return of the bust, saying it was faraway from Egypt illegally in early 1900s.
Distinguished Egyptian archaeologist and former Antiquities Minister Zahi Hawass has launched a petition for the return to Egypt of the pharaonic bust of Queen Nefertiti from the Neues Museum in Berlin.
Nefertiti’s well-known painted limestone bust was uncovered at Inform el-Amarna, about 300km (185 miles) south of Cairo, in 1912 by a German archaeological mission, which shipped it to Berlin the next 12 months.
Amarna was the short-lived capital of Nefertiti’s husband, the 18th dynasty Pharaoh Akhenaten, who reigned till about 1335 BC.
Akhenaten, known as the heretic king, was infamous for selling the worship of the god Aten to the exclusion of Egypt’s different gods. His reign additionally launched a radical change in Egyptian artwork.
Attraction from Hawass
In his petition launched on Saturday, Hawass requested for the return of the bust, saying it was faraway from Egypt illegally after its discovery.
“We announce in the present day that Egypt – that is the nationwide committee, it’s not a authorities committee – asks for the return of the bust of Nefertiti,” Hawass stated.
“What I would like from everybody right here is to go to my web site … hawasszahi.com, and you’ll signal, one signature, to indicate that you’d love for this bust to come back again.”
Hawass stated he’s not calling for the repatriation of artefacts taken out of Egypt legally. His marketing campaign is concentrated on repatriating “three foremost stunning objects” together with the bust of Nefertiti, the Rosetta Stone and the Dendera Zodiac.
Officers at Berlin’s Neues Museum weren’t instantly out there for remark.