December 22, 2009
Egypt makes new efforts to secure return of Nefertiti Bust
Egypt is carrying on building pressure on Germany to try & secure the return of the Nefertiti Bust.
From:
Bikya Masr
Egypt, Germany to duke it out over Nefertiti bust
Joseph Mayton
6 December 2009 in Culture, Egypt, Egyptology, Europe, NewsCAIRO: It has become the neverending story of Egypt’s Zahi Hawass to get Germany to return the famous Nefertiti bust. He has made threat upon threat against Berlin, demanding they give back what is rightfully Egypt’s. The threats have been met with laughter and skirting. Germany has no intention of returning their prized possession, taken from Egypt’s sands in the early part of last century.
Either way the diplomacy falls, the two sides will hold talks this month in order to see what will be done about the statue. Hawass believes the 3,400-year-old treasure was illegally taken from Egypt and should be returned.
Speaking to Reuters, the embattled Hawass – whose outbursts recently have put in under fire – said he will meet with the head of the Egyptian Papyrus Collection at Berlin’s Neues Museum, where the bust is currently on display. The two are expected to meet on December 20, but most observers are doubtful anything will happen.One Belgian archaeologist said the bust and the Rosetta Stone, currently at the British Museum, will never be returned to Egypt, at least not in the foreseeable future. “It is because Egypt is not equipped to take it and at the same time, these are the prize possessions of the two museums, so I don’t think it will happen. Threats are not going to get Germany to change their mind,” he said, asking that his name not be revealed due to the tension with Hawass’ Supreme Council of Antiquities, who has often barred foreign scholars from the country after disagreements.
But, if the statue was in fact stolen and this can be proved, the archaeologist says, “things could be different because Germany won’t be able to argue against Egypt. And the council could ban Germans from being in Egypt to look at sites, which would be really bad. We shall see,” the Belgian added.
“The only thing we are going to discuss is whether the director has any legal papers to show that the bust of Nefertiti left Egypt legally,” Hawass said. “All evidence that I collected until now shows the bust of Nefertiti left Egypt illegally.”
Hawass added that Egypt would be willing to strike a deal with Germany that would see other Egyptian artifacts going to Berlin in exchange for the bust.
Hawass believes the bust was illegally removed from Egyptian soil and plans to prove the right of Egypt to restore the statue to the country.
Hawass said, in remarks on the sidelines of celebrations for the opening of the Howard Carter commemorative hall in Luxor, last month, that in addition to preparing for the Berlin Museum’s visit, he will dispatch an archaeological committee to the Louvre Museum by the end of this month to recover the five paintings after the approval of France to return them to Egypt after proving they were taken illegally from the country.
The crisis between Germany and Egypt over the head of Queen Nefertiti was sparked again after Germany’s Der Spiegel and The Times of England revealed a secret document indicating that German archaeologist, Ludwig Borchardt deceived the Egyptians in the early twentieth century over the historical fact of the statue of Nefertiti, and then transported it illegally to Germany.
The reports include the actual document – available in the archives of the Eastern German Institute in Berlin – and also includes information that Borchardt, who was among the scientific mission specializing in the exploration of antiquities in Egypt, deceived the Egyptian authorities about the historical value of the real statue of Nefertiti and consequently transferred it from Egypt to the German capital in 1913.
According to German papers, the contents of the classified document, which is dated to 1924, contains information that there was a meeting held between a senior Egyptian official and the German archaeologist, who found the statue of Nefertiti in 1912 in Tel el-Amarna, the capital city of Pharaoh Akhenaton, Nefertiti’s husband, where the Secretary General of the East German Association participated in the meeting.
They then announced that a number of pieces that were found during excavations were the rightful property of both nations, equally. But, instead of sharing the artifacts, the German archaeologist removed and took the statue and other pieces from the dig back to Germany following the meeting.
The document says that Borchardt wanted to keep the statue of Nefertiti and not to share it with the Egyptian side, and for this purpose he provided the Egyptian side a photo that does not show the statue well. The document released by the German newspaper noted that Borchardt misled the Egyptian inspectors by telling them that the statue of Nefertiti was made of gypsum, while it is actually made from limestone.
After the disclosure of such information, Hawass said that Egypt will do its best to restore the statue of Nefertiti from Germany, “if the credibility of this document is proven.”
Egypt had demanded in the 1930s that Germany return the statue. It was the first time Egypt had made the demand. Germany refused. In recent years recovering the statue of Nefertiti has been at the top of Hawass’ list of artifacts outside Egypt that should be returned.
BM
From:
The Age (Melbourne)
Egypt pushes for return of antiquities
JASON KOUTSOUKIS, CAIRO
December 7, 2009EGYPT is to host an international conference for countries seeking the return of ancient indigenous treasures being kept in foreign museums.
The Secretary General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, Zahi Hawass, said the conference would be a world first.
”We expect around 12 countries to participate, possibly several more,” Dr Hawass said.
”There is a moral imperative for museums around the world to return certain artefacts to the countries they came from, and we are going to identify how we can help each other to increase the pressure on the keepers of those artefacts to give them back.”
Among countries to attend will be Greece, Italy, China and Mexico.
”I am calling on all nations who want their important artefacts returned to attend the conference,” Dr Hawass said.
Egypt itself is demanding the return of six pieces that are among the world’s most famous archaeological discoveries.
These include the Rosetta Stone, which has been on display at the British Museum since 1802, a 2200-year-old granite tablet containing three translations of a passage of text that provided the key to deciphering ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs.
Next on Dr Hawass’ list is the 3500-year-old bust of Queen Nefertiti, the wife of the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten, now the star attraction at Berlin’s Neues Museum.
The bust was discovered in 1912 by German archaeologist Ludwig Borchard, who claimed he had the approval of the then Egyptian government to take it. Egypt has been calling for the bust’s return since 1930.
”I believe Borchardt cheated,” Dr Hawass said. ”I think this was stolen, and we have the evidence to prove it.”
A German delegation is scheduled to meet Dr Hawass tomorrow to discuss his demands that the bust be returned.
”This is our property. Like the Rosetta Stone, it belongs to the people of Egypt and is a vital part of their history,” Dr Hawass said. ”We can prove this artefact was stolen. Let them prove that it is not.”
Since being appointed to head Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, Dr Hawass has become a powerful advocate for the return of antiquities.
Other artefacts Dr Hawass wants returned include the Dendera Zodiac and a bust of Pharaoh Ramses II.
- Egypt to make formal request for return of Nefertiti bust : January 1, 2010
- Did Ludwig Borchardt steal the Nefertiti bust from Egypt? : December 23, 2009
- Egypt to hold talks over Nefertiti bust : December 13, 2009
- Egypt’s request for the Nefertiti Bust return rebuffed : February 25, 2011
- Has the time come for the Nefertiti bust to return to Egypt : November 6, 2009
- Germany refuses Nefertiti Bust return request : February 22, 2011
- Will Nefertiti bust stay in Berlin? : January 5, 2010
- Egypt repeats request for return of Nefertiti bust from Germany : February 18, 2011
Edgard Mansoor said,
12.26.09 at 9:47 pm
Germany will never surrender the Nefertiti bust for the only reason that it is a forgery dating back to the “Art Nouveau period, that is from late 19th to early 20th century.
Because of the rumor that has been circulating during the last few months, that the bust is not authentic, the German Officials know that if Hawass gets it, he will have it examined by a team of International skilled scientists, and they will find out that it is not authentic, and Germany will be accused of having taken advantage of the gullible public who believed in the integrity of the Berlin Museum. What’s worse is that the Museum’s authorities knew the bust is not authentic and Wildung was hired in order to keep his mouth shut about what he had said about the bust in the past,and protect it.
The bust had been carved in Germany by the brilliant young sculptor/painter by the name of Gerardt marks, then it was smuggled into Egypt and then smuggled out as if it had been found during Borchardt’s excavations
According to Borchardt who is supposed to have discovered the bust, the bust is stated to have been found face down half way buried in the ground.
If such is the case, then according to the late Dr. Harold J. Plenderleith, formerly Director of the British Museum Laboratory, founding and first Director of ICCROM under UNESCO, a grinding phenomenon then operates
through the years as is well known and can even result, in extreme cases, in the loss of shape of compact bone and sometimes in its entire disappearance.
The bust being covered with plaster, and plaster being much softer than limestone, after 3,350 years, Nefertiti’s face being buried in the ground, would have been literally disfigured, and even the limestone core would have been greatly affected.
Then, the other portion of the bust which had been exposed to the atmosphere would have also suffered but a different kind of weathering caused by wind, rain, sandstorms and heat, and there would have been a demarcation line showing distinctly the 2 different kinds of weathering.
There is no such line on the bust, and there isn’t the slightest sign of any kind of weathering. This is what mostly exposes the scam.
Furthermore, the German authorities made sure not to have a CT scan taken of the tall crown and of the bust proper, that is the area below the neck. Had these been taken, they would have shown the mistakes made by the sculptor Marks, mistakes that the chief sculptor Thutmose would have never made.
It has been claimed by some expert Egyptologists that the bust is a masterpiece made by the chief sculptor Thutmose, and that it was meant for less experienced sculptors to copy the features of Nefertiti.
First of all, would the chief sculptor of Akhenaten dare sculpt a portrait of the queen with one eye missing? Every effort was made to find the missing eye but with no success. No only this, but no glue was found in the socket of the missing eye which would have suggested that there was an eye and that it had been lost.
If the bust was authentic, why did Wildung send a delegation to Switzerland to convince Mr. Henri Stierlin to give up his investigation about the pedigree of the bust, since Wildung himself, before becoming the director of the Berlin Museum , had stated in his “aesthetic historical/stylistic analysis” of the bust in a letter dated September 9, 1983 that the bust is 1) an ice cold perfection; 2) a lifeless work; 3) NO PROPER STYLE whatsoever OF THE PERIOD is perceptible in it; and 4) a fabricated work. To sum it up in a few words: a synthesis of diverse elements with no organic relations between each others.
Likewise, the German authorities will not allow anymore CT scans to be taken of the bust, because they know that what’s under the plaster of the tall crown and the rest of the bust below the neck will be ample proofs of forgery, and they do not want to be called cheaters of the world public.
Think about this: can the German Government explain how the bust traveled safely from Egypt to Germany, and cannot travel safely under better conditions from Germany to Egypt?
Edgard Mansoor
Edgard Mansoor said,
09.28.15 at 4:56 pm
A beautiful article about the Mansoor Amarna Collection by Prof. Brian Stross of the Unversity of Texac at Austin.
http://www.utexas.edu/courses/stross/papers/AKHENATENS%20LEGACY%20III.pdf
Please compare the Nefertiti heads at the Cairo Museum and the ones in the Mansoor Amarna Collection and see if the Nefertiti bust of the Berlin Egyptian Museum can match any.
Wildung says the “CT scans” of the Nefertiti bust show that the sculptor gave Nefertiti a “face-lift”.. Why did he do that if he intended to cover the bust with plaster? It was a loss of time for the sculptor to cover the bust with plaster, which is a cheap material that’ s “according to Mr. Alfred Lucas”, author of “Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industries” is used to cover walls and ceilings of temples, houses and tombs to give them a smooth surface so that they be ready to be painted;and plaster was also spread on wood sarcophagi so that the wood does not absorb humidity and avoid cracking.
The only reasonable answer as to why the sculptor covered the Nefertiti bust with plaster is that he didn’t know how to apply to it a patina that would fool a scientist, and also to try to model the Nefertiti’s facial features more easily in which he failed, and instead did it in the style of his time.
Edgard Mansoor